


Some times, you just need a vacation

by DanaFanel



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: (Are you noticing a theme here?), Aftermath of Violence, Anal Sex, Blood and Violence, Bondage, Canon-Typical Violence, Consensual Violence, Cuddly Sole Survivor, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Drunk Sex, F/M, Flashbacks to previous rape, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friends disagreeing, Ghoul have different temperature and textures, Gun Violence, Guys thinking sexy thought about girls, Hinted M/M, Invisible molesting, M/M, Mentions of friends being forced to watch other friend raped, Merciless ghoul demands orgasm from SS, Multi, Nightmares, Non-Consensual Drug Use, One guy thinking bad sexy thoughts about a girl, Oral Sex, Overdosing, Pansexual characters having a tryst in an alley, Public Sex, Recreational Drug Use, Rough Sex, Sarcasm, Sex, Sexual Roleplay, Sweet words whispered is sexy voices, Temporary Character Death, Vaginal Sex, Wall Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2018-12-11 15:16:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 95,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11717019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanaFanel/pseuds/DanaFanel
Summary: Nora's merry crew is off to spread trade and good will outside of the Common Wealth. With news that the Capital Wasteland has clean water, Nora is going to also make sure her crew enjoys some rest.But is there really rest for the wicked?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea blindsided me and I am just rolling with it. Let's see where it goes.

The lows of the Brahmin and the jostling of carts, heavy with goods were all around her. Her back was pressed against a hard, wooden crate that jumped slightly once in a while. She was tired after three Raider attacks in the same number of days. Arms across her chest, her head of thick, brown hair was tilted back against the crate with a dirty baseball cap pulled low. Just a few minutes to doze; it was all she wanted.

 

“Strong bored. Want to fight!!” A few groans and one or two shushes were the deep rumbling voice’s response. Nora felt a smirk cross her face as she tipped her ball cap up. She and her numerous companions were on a trade trail, heading to the Capital Waste. They were almost all camped out in the back of the cart that was being pulled by a four-cow team. Strong, a large super mutant with high intelligence  _for_  a super mutant, was sitting at the edge of the cart. He had a sharpener and his new ‘toothed’ board in his hands as he worked the teeth into even sharper points.

 

“Easy Strong,” Nora called from her napping place towards the front of the wagon. “MacCready says we will pass by at least two raider camps before we hit the Capital. We will have plenty of chances to fight.” Strong looked over his shoulder at her. Nora raised her eyebrow; she knew that look. Strong was about to challenge her, probably going to ask to go find them himself. Nora narrowed her eyes, just a little. Strong sniffled, muttered some grumbles, but turned back to watch out the rear of the wagon. Nora released a small breath; she and Strong were finally coming to an understanding of when not to push her.

 

“Yeah, Big Green, no worries. By the landmarks, we should be hitting those motherfu-hm raiders within the hour.” MacCready, her ex-gunner free-agent Merc companion, commented in his gentle baritone as he sat on one of the high crates to her right. He was sitting high enough that his legs were actually over the edge of the sides. He had his sniper rifle leaning against his right side as he held a pair of binoculars up to his gem-blue eyes. His light brown hair was tucked up neatly in his hat. He and Preston-who was to her left- where their immediate look outs. Preston Garvey, the last member of the Minutemen before he recruited her, was a dark-skinned man at a little over 6 feet. His hair was short and tucked up inside an old-time military hat. He had finally allowed her to upgrade him. He now had an automatic laser rifle that didn’t need to be wound to fire and could fire more than half a dozen shots at a time. It had taken her hundreds of caps and about 3 days’ worth of modifications, but it was worth it. Hell, Preston and her had gotten most of the caps back when they and a few others ripped through the raiders of Nuka World. Her smirk returned at the memory of freeing Nuka-World; opening up tons of trade and shelter for the Commonwealth. Hell, it might someday overtake Diamond City as the trade center of the territory.

 

“Anything on your PipBoy, Paladin?” came a back-shivering rich voice from her immediate left. Pulling up her cap more, she took in Danse. Now out of his old Brotherhood of Steel orange jumpsuit, Nora could really appreciate a ‘life’ of training on his frame. Broad and very fit, the roughed-up denim pants and farmer’s shirt with rolled up sleeves really suited him. His hair was still slicked back, but the deep black color caught the light just right. If she was ever truly honest with herself, he reminded her of Nate, except Danse’s eyes were a nice chocolate. He was a rogue-ishly handsome man; too bad there was ‘still a stick up his arse’ as Cait liked to say. Danse was polishing up several of the pistols and other weapons they were taking to the Capital to start up trade.

 

Nora wiggled her left arm out from under the warm furry body on her chest. Dogmeat gave a large yawn, and a horrible puff of breath, before laying his head back down on her ribs. Nora tapped the screen awake, and checked the volume of her alert system. A testing beep rang in her left ear, signally that the device was at a decent volume. Checking the maps, she saw an outline of the raider pits to the west, like MacCready had mentioned. No hostile movement; not even a mole rat. “Nothing on the Pip, Danse, and stop calling me that. I just splintered the Brotherhood; I am pretty sure my title is null and void at this point.”

 

“What you did was give the Brotherhood a choice. Those that are with us now, made their choice to follow you.” Danse, direct as ever, looked to the other caravans. Nora knew who he was looking at. Using the Railroad, Minutemen and a few of the more passive members of the Brotherhood, Nora set out to make a new doctrine for the Institute. Father’s old way gave limited to no freedoms to just about everyone. The Scientists had been forced to work on assignments that they hadn’t wanted to. Synths were, of course, used as slaves despite being more clone than robot. Since Father had named her as his successor before she betrayed the man, she promoted herself and her new doctrine to all. Synth would no longer be in production for labor. The FEV lab was to be reused into a curing lab. The entire staff would now be encouraged to do work on what they wanted and rewarded if it was work that would help recover the world at large.

 

Father and a number of others were not interested in her plans, and tried to teleport her away. What they had not known was that she had already teleported a number of her allies into the building. At least 20 Brotherhood members, all of the Railroad, and half of the Minutemen. Nora had tried to reason with Shaun, but he was too damaged from being the servant of the Institute. Others who rebelled were taken top side and thrown in Minutemen jails. She held off on outright violence until one of the synth engineers coded a Synth to attack. 3 died, included the Synth. Many of the Brotherhood had wanted to outright destroy the Institute, but that idea was brought to her attention later. Nora and Shaun spent Shaun’s last days in his quarters. He didn’t speak much during that time, but Nora did her best to treat him like her son. She told him stories about their lives before the war. How his father had been a well decorated soldier that would have loved to have raised him. She told him of his grandparents who were so happy to have him. She told him about the few happy months they had, and how they had started saving for a college right away. She had been right by him as his breathing slowed and his eyes closed. He didn’t say anything to her at the end, but Nora told him goodbye. His body was taken to Sanctuary and laid to rest behind their old house.

 

The trouble with the Brotherhood, at least, waited until Shaun was buried. Elder had wanted to clear all of the people from the Institute and use Liberty Prime to destroy it. A 10 mm pistol in the face got him quiet long enough for her to talk. Hell, she had actually teleported him away to Sanctuary and forced him into a Powwow with her, the Minutemen, a bunch of Synths and settler ghouls from the Slog. Strong, Hancock, Danse and even Nick were there as she laid down the law. She was not interested in the Brotherhood, as it was, being in the Common Wealth anymore. Killing and hatred of innocent Synths and intelligent ghouls was really pushing her buttons. On top of that, The Brotherhood wasn’t interested in ‘helping’ the common man. They were interested in old tech. If they wanted info, true info, on old tech, they needed to talk to her or pre-war ghouls. The Brotherhood could easily turn into nothing more than another Institute and she was not interested. She offered him a number of choices, ranging from leaving completely, to helping the Institute people adjust to life on the upside and a number of others. Maxson had done a nice job of cussing her, and Danse, out. It didn’t matter; the whole conversation had been broadcast through the land, thanks to Travis’ microphone implant in Nick. The Brotherhood as a whole, and its individual soldiers, would make their choices, because the people of the Commonwealth made theirs. Most people quickly turned away from the Brotherhood members who wanted to only improve themselves. Through the late winter, most of the Brotherhood was loaded onto the airship, and about 2 weeks before heading to Nuka, the Prydwen was gone. Those that stayed had been the ones who had joined her in taking the Institute to begin with. Now most of the Common Wealth wore the Minuteman Banner with numerous Railroad safe points. The Common Wealth was growing, with people, trade, and even some plants.

 

A growing Common Wealth meant that after a bit, there was need to grow _out_. That was what this trip was for. A way of spreading good will and supplies to other places. A chance for the Minutemen and The Common Brotherhood to introduce themselves to other territories and start bringing the world back together. That was Nora’s long-term dream. Even if it was just the East coast, she wanted to feel that connection with people again.

 

“Yeah, The Brotherhood was a dying breed anyway. Can’t exactly have fresh, new blood to warm up to if there’s no one allowed in,” came a voice that sounded like the owner had eaten gravel or had drunken flaming whiskey. Hancock and Deacon were up in the driver’s seat, sharing duties, cigarettes and being strangely agreeable to each other. Hancock, the low-down good-for-nothing (hardly) ghoul Mayor of Goodneighbor was the owner of that voice. Ghouls were an interesting breed. All were irradiated to the point of their skin falling off. Nearly all she had met were noseless, hairless, and with completely black eyes. Hancock, despite all those things, was still a lady killer… and a man killer. Nora had to lend that to his personality. Witty and with a silver tongue, he was definitely a charmer. He currently had a pair of pistols on his sides with a shotgun on his lap. He had the reins right now in his left hand with a glowing cigarette in his right. He grinned over his shoulder and winked at the others. “Not too many I’d want to warm up to anyway, even if they weren’t ghoul haters. Hell, Danse is the best looking one of the bunch, and I’m not going to try snuggling him on a long cold night.” Danse shuddered in horror and clicked the safety off one of their trade pieces.

 

 Nora and Hancock laughed briefly before Deacon chimed in. “Who would want to cuddle up with someone with your face, Hancock? I don’t think there are enough Chems in all the Common Wealth for that.” Deacon was her spy/assassin/ ‘can’t believe a word he says’ companion from the Synth recovery and relocation side of the Common Wealth. As a spy, he was constantly changing himself. Right now, he was sunburned rogue type with a Deathclaw’s set of claw marks down the right side of his face. His wig was just like Sturges, black and slicked back like Elvis. And, as always, his mouth was getting him into trouble. Hancock transferred the reins to his right pinkie finger before slapping Deacon upside the head. Deacon winced but was grinning. He went back to his clipboard and notes, keeping tabs on their fellow caravanners as a rifle was fitted in-between his legs.

 

“All he needs is to pull that hat over his face and I am sure someone would take him up on the offer.” Nora grinned back at the two and Hancock whistled low.

 

 

“Damn, sister, sounds like you are making me a sweet little offer.” Nora snorted hard and waved him off as she sat up. Dogmeat protested, but just stretched and went over to flop on Danse’ knee instead. Standing up, and working the kinks out of her neck, she pulled out a spare scope and scanned the area too. Over to their left, the west, she could see Codsworth’s metal-orb-self bobbing up and down. He was at the farthest edge of their whole group. After her Pip Boy, Codsworth had the best senses to detect trouble. It still made her uncomfortable to see her little orb family member so far from them. Nora scowled and reached to throw her arm over Preston’s shoulder. The dark-skinned man tensed briefly before he turned to face her. It had taken all of her friends a bit of time to get used to how free with physical affection she was. Preston was actually the first one to comment on it. After killing the Deathclaw in Concord, Nora had jumped into the man’s arms in a victory hug. It was quickly explained that while Preston really didn’t mind, it wasn’t common. After that, she warned everyone about her victory hugs. They adjusted quickly.

 

“Yes, General?” Preston asked in that smooth voice of his. God, if she could just get him and Danse to sing, they’d make a million caps with holotapes.

 

“Signal Codsworth, please, Preston. I want him to come back for a few minutes.”

 

“You really worry about him, huh?” Preston smiled softly and set down his binoculars and dug a mirror from his front pocket. Opening it and catching the sun, the flashes caught Codsworth’s top eyebulb. He quickly flew towards them.

 

“Can’t help it. Me and him have been through a lot. Robot or not, he’s been family for over 200 years.” Nora commented as she stayed leaning her head on Preston’s shoulder.

 

“It’s just a robot. No reason to get attached to something that isn’t human,” Danse muttered under his breath. Nora turned her eyes and stared at the man. It took a few moments of staring for Danse to look back up from his work. Noticing her look, he gulped quietly and nodded. Nora turned back to watch the approaching robot. Danse was still adjusting to the fact that he himself was a Synth. After a lifetime of human memories and The Brotherhoods ideals, Danse was not going to be agreeable with Synths, ghouls or super mutants as a whole anytime soon. He was making slow progress with her band of misfits, but he had lapses. Strong, Nick and Hancock took it all in stride, though Strong’s approach was to just shoulder shove him into a wall. It had the desired effect. Nick just hit him with every witty snide remark in the book. Nora sighed mentally, missing her other favorite Mayor.

 

Codsworth, her loyal Mr. Handy robot, hovered up to her side with good cheer. “Hello there, mum,” a pleasant British accent sounding from the speaker inside one of his eye stalks. “Everything alright on your end, mum?”

 

“Everything is fine, Codsworth. I just want to check on you. Fuel, batteries and everything alright? Your temperature gauge?” Nora fussed gently as she fished a rag from nearby and reached out to wipe some of the dust from the eye bulbs. The eye panels widen and narrowed in what could be taken as a pleased expression.

 

“Nothing to worry atall, mum. I am fit as ever. Had a few bloatflies off behind us about 10 minutes ago, but nothing else has come up. Oh, one was carrying a few 10 mm rounds in its gullet when I killed it. Should I add them to the store?” Codsworth reached into his small carry bag around his right eyestalk and pulled out 5 fresh rounds. Why the damn flies ate them whole, she’d never understand. She took them and plopped them into her carry belt, hearing the Pipboy count them. “Thank you for checking on me, mum, but I’ll get back to my post.”

 

“On your way back, Codsworth, go to the front and check on Curie and Cait. If they need some more supplies to treat the wounded, we can spare a few more.” Nora commanded, and Codsworth raised his saw to his eye in a salute before flying off. Curie was her medical companion, a reprogramed Nanny bot. She had offered herself to the normal caravan members after that raid yesterday. Nora had asked Cait to be Curie’s hands for the more delicate things. Cait, in all of her piss and vinegar attitude, had agreed. Course, the fact that one of the injured was a fellow ex-slave who had been released from the same group as her might have helped. Nora squeezed Preston around the shoulders once more and left his side to kneel next to Strong. “How you holding up, Big Guy?” Nora added a shoulder bump for good measure to keep the Super Mutant in good spirits.

 

“Strong like new weapons, but Strong want to use them!” Strong half shouted and slammed his sharpener into his meaty, green thigh. She was surprised it didn’t break, but she patted his shoulder in good nature.

 

 “Soon, Big Guy. You are doing a great job on this trip. Are you still sad about what Milk of Human Kindness really is?” Nora questioned as she sat down on his side and threw her feet over the back like him. Hers didn’t almost reach the ground like his, though.

 

“Strong not sad. Human use other word. Dis-a-point-ed? Strong wanted to show brothers human secret. Not secret. Super mutant brothers just cannot care like humans. Humans’ kindness lets them grow. Let’s them keep fighting and winning against brothers. But Kindness makes humans’ strong. Stronger than some brothers.” Strong turned and looked down at her and even raised a finger to point at her face. “You beat all brothers. You strongest human Strong know. You are care-est human Strong knows.” Strong snarled and thumped his board into his legs. The fact that Strong was agreeing with some human ideals put him in a very difficult situation, Nora knew. Strong could probably never join a Super Mutant only group again.

 

Smiling softly, she thumped his arm again, hiding the fact that it hurt her more than him. “I might be the strongest human you know, but there is one Super Mutant I can’t beat.” Nora grinned up and soon Strong was smiling-showing his teeth- down at her.

 

“Yes, little human. Only Strong can fight you. Not beat you. You no beat Strong. Why we good team.” Strong nodded to himself and started back on the teeth. Nora nodded too and hopped up again. Going over to MacCready’s box and tapping her fingers on it, she rested her chin on her hand. Looking up at her young pup-she was 11 years his senior- she took in his ridged face. He was stiff, and he kept licking his lips, catching his goatee at times. Nora had a guess of why her favorite hired gun was so tense. “Nervous?”

 

MacCready didn’t say anything at first, but Nora was patient. Finally, the man sighed and lowered his binoculars and looked at her. “A little. It’s been so long… I wonder what he looks like. Will he start looking more like Lucy or me now?” Nora smiled softly and stood up more to lean her cheek into his shoulder.

 

“Well, if he looks like you, he’s a pretty good-looking kid.”  MacCready grinned almost shyly and scratched his nose. For all his closed-off-ness, MacCready was a good guy under it all. There was a lot she had to get through to see it, but it was worth it now.

 

**_Beep beep_ **

 

A thin holoscreen crossed over Nora’s left eye, and she stiffened. A tiny row of red dots was forming along the west ridge. From the looks of it, they were right behind the western-most caravan. Codworth was still at the front with the med team. Nora held up her Pip Boy and adjusted it twice. A sense of tension soon passed to those around her. Deacon and Hancock hadn’t seen the signal, but Danse tapped his piece against his knee twice. Deacon must have noticed because he tapped his sunglasses twice, and Hancock spat out his cigarette.

 

“Where from, boss?” MacCready asked softly, lowering his binoculars. To their east, the furthest wagon’s guard also put his down and cocked his gun.

 

“Behind the last wagon on the west side. They are about 100 feet down the slope.”

 

MacCready grinned and nodded shallowly. “Yup, that is their trick. Orders?” MacCready cocked his sniper rifle and pulled his hat lower. 

 

“Strong?” Nora glanced back to the rear of the wagon. She had to smirk as Strong was already off the wagon and reaching under it. She loved that damn minigun. “Preston, sound the alarm… NOW!!” Nora grabbed MacCready’s rifle, ignoring his protest, and slammed into VATS.

 

It was a hard shot, but with VATS and the long scope, Nora popped the first Raider to crest the hill. It blew the bastard’s face clean off. Her second and third shots caught the Raider after him in the shoulder and wrist, making him useless. But once VATS, ran out…

 

 Nora winced as she finally heard Preston’s whistle over her temporary state of slow time. Tossing the rifle back to MacCready, she reached behind the crates and barrels for her own stash of weapons. The first thing that came out was a string of grenades, which she passed to Strong. “Throw these first, big guy.” She didn’t need to worry about that order; the gory-er Strong could have something, the better. Nora grabbed her automatic, semi-machine gun and hopped off the wagon.

 

The whistle had done just as they had planned. All the wagons were pulling into the center and people were climbing out. Deacon took over the reins as Hancock popped fresh rounds into his shotgun and hopped off. Danse and Preston were right behind her as she took aim at the Raiders from behind some rocks. Danse, stubborn oaf he was, just charged forward. Nora snorted and grinned to her left as Preston sighed. Poor Synth was so used to his Power Armor, he sometimes forgot when he wasn’t wearing it. Taking aim and letting rip, Nora took down one of the Raiders that was about to lob a grenade at Danse. She didn’t even look down as a whoosh of air ran past her on her left side; Dogmeat was a snarling tornado as he charged and weaved. The dog was a damn psychic as he seemed to dance right around all the grenades that Strong was heaving. The 30 Raiders quickly whittled down to ten or so when a new alarm from her Pipboy sounded.

 

_Fuck…_

 

At least another dozen were circling them from the left and heading straight for the wounded. Ignoring the buck shot that chipped the rock by her ear, she grabbed Preston by his collar and held his eyes. Preston, as always, caught on quickly that something had come up. By the way his eyes looked past her to the front, told her he could see them.

 

“Preston, do me a favor, and get  _Big Momma_.” Preston’s eyes widened, but Nora didn’t have time. Letting go of his collar, Nora sprang up and took off for the front. She brought two fingers up to her mouth and whistled, hoping Dogmeat heard it. She dropped into VATS again and aimed for the couple that were trying to kill the Brahmin. A blaze of tiny bullets slammed into them, but Nora mentally snarled as it seemed like they had leaded weave. She was pushed out of VATS as a bullet hit her left shoulder. She damn near crumbled, but a pair of arms pulled her down and behind one of the wagons. “Shit, Princess, it’s not like you to run straight in.” Nora leaned into Hancock as he pushed aside her Vault suit’s material to look at the wound. “Shit, it’s in there. We need some forceps-“

 

“Hancock, I love you, but not now,” Nora put her submachine gun into the wagon, hissing as a bullet just missed her but gave her a good burn. “Got something else with you?” Hancock winked and handed over his pistols, and an inhaler. “Oh Hancock, I could kiss you.”

 

“I will hold you to that. Remember, Princess, you only need one hit,” grinned the Ghoul just as Dogmeat ran up to them. Nora mentally sighed at her weakness to such helpful chems. She had no tolerance to anything, making even small amounts have nearly double the effect. Nora pats the bloodied dog before pulling the safety off of the guns.

 

“Shall we dance?” She asked, making Hancock wink again. Reaching back into his coat, and his chem stash, he pulled out some Buffout pills and popped them. He then ran out from behind the wagon first, blasting his shotgun, and a red dot winked out. Dogmeat stared up at Nora, until she said, ‘Go around’. The dog took off to the front of the wagon and snarled his way into the fray. Placing the second gun under her arm, Nora shook the inhaler, before puffing it into her mouth.

 

It was very similar to VATS; the slowing down of time and everything around her. Unlike VATS though, Nora could get up and move. She dove out from behind the wagon with the pistols up. The two closest Raiders were nearly frozen under the use of Jet, but she wasn’t. She popped two bullets into each of their heads before they ever moved in her chem view. She used the next 30 or so seconds to unload the other 8 bullets before time started to go back to normal. Diving again, this time behind a few bodies and some 200-year-old weeds, she looked up and felt her blood run cold.

 

Codsworth and Curie were curled up in ‘deactivated mode’ on either side of a pile of bloodied bodies. Nora could see Cait’s arm wrapped around another woman but could not make out if either was breathing. Rage quickly built inside of Nora as she sprang up again and took off towards them. All the rage was quickly burned up by pain as a not so dead Raider slammed a sledgehammer right into her upper hip and stomach. Rolling to a stop and glaring at the prick, she dodged his next strike and kept rolling. She had seen something behind him and she wanted out of the way.

 

Just as the man was about to raise the weapon again, Strong slammed into him from behind. Having a nearly 8 foot, 450-pound super mutant slam into you at full speed… Nora wrinkled her nose as the man’s body bent in the completely wrong direction. Strong gave a battle cry of victory over the body, before walking over to her. His minigun was strapped to his left hip, but he had a second weapon pulled over his shoulder. Nora grinned as she stood up, fighting against the wince. One thing you didn’t show Strong was when you were hurt.

 

“Strong, is that my  _Big Momma_?” Nora offered her hands up as the super mutant slung the weapon off his shoulder and a bag full of missiles. Strong grinned wide as Nora began setting up the missiles; he was a much bigger fan of larger weapons. Finally, getting the missile into position, and lifting the heavy weight to her shoulder (oh fuck, that bullet), she slammed once more into VATS. There were 3 Raiders still in the West, but Danse had one by the throat, MacCready’s bullet was literally slamming into another as she watched, and Preston had the third on the ground with the laser rifle to his head. In front of her, the last five or six Raiders were making a run for it, with a few small crates of supplies between them. Nora was briefly amazed at how little the Raiders were getting out of all the destruction they were causing. It didn’t matter; they weren’t getting far. She highlighted the middle of the group and let fly the missile, hissing and swearing under her breath at the recoil. The missile flew slowly in her VATS, but she could watch as one of the tail-end Raiders saw his death approaching. She winked out of VATS just was the missile connected and the Raiders disappeared from her view. Gritting her teeth, she pulled the missile launcher to her good side and looped the bag of missiles over it. “Strong, dinner is served.” Nora still felt her stomach roll some as Strong nodded and went to go claim a body. “Remember, away from camp.” Nora called as the super mutant went among the Raiders

.

 

Now was the time that her knees gave out and she slammed face first into the groun- oh wait, nevermind. Face first into a pair of arms that held her up. “Damn, Professor. Thought you only used  _Big Momma_  in extreme cases.” Deacon pulled her missile launcher and missiles off of her shoulder and onto his own back, still somehow propping her up as he did so.

 

“Not now, Deacon. Get to Cait and the others,” Nora tried pushing herself off the Railroad spy, but he held on to her waist. Whistling to the air, Dogmeat was soon by their side.

 

“Who is a good pup? You stay here with your mom, alright Dogmeat?” Deacon set her down gently and Dogmeat leaned on her good side. “I’ll be right back, Prof.” Deacon pulled the weapon’s strap and heaved the two back towards their wagon.

 

“General?”  “Paladin?”  Oh, good lord, those voices. Nora looked back as Preston and Danse came running up. Danse’s farmer shirt was completely destroyed from bullet holes, blood and just general rips. At most times, Nora would have moaned at the sight of Danse’s barreled and hairy chest. Damn, what was with her and military men? Preston was roughed up with blood and dirt, but ok save for a long gash from his ear to chin. Both men moved to help her stand, but she shooed them off.

 

 “Get to the wounded first. I’m fine. Small bullet to the shoulder, and a chem crash. It’s nothing. Go.” Danse nodded and took off quickly, but Preston hesitated, looking concerned. Nora raised her eyebrow, and hugged Dogmeat for good measure to show that she was fine. Preston nodded and took off too.

 

“Whoo-boy, now _that_ was a good show,” Hancock was pleased with himself as he lit a new cigarette, before crouching down next to her. His hat was gone and he had his traditional coat slung over one arm. His dapper white, frilled wrist and neck shirt was unbuttoned at the top. Roughed up and smelling of Psycho, Hancock brushed blood from the corners of his eyes as he looked her over. “Now, about that kiss…” Hancock leaned in… and good boy Dogmeat licked him from chin to nose. Nora snorted and laughed, before hissing and digging into her damaged shoulder. “Alright, you furry mutt. Keep her right here while I go get some tools.” Hancock rubbed his face with his coat as he walked off. 

 

 “YOU ARE NOT TOUCHING MY SHOULDER, HANCOCK!” Nora called after him. Finally, with no one fussing over her, Nora clicked her tongue and Dogment laid down and Nora leaned her head on the boy. Her heart was still thumping from the Jet, but all of her adrenaline was gone and Nora passed out for a few seconds.

 

She was woken up quickly as hands grabbed her to roll her off Dogmeat. Instincts, based on life in the Common Wealth, had Nora backhanding her assailant. Danse didn’t even flinch as he fully rolled her over to her back, but she did. “Sorry, Danse. I went out for a few.”

 

“Nothing to worry about, Paladin. The gh…. Hm, Hancock said you were hit in the left shoulder. Time for some field treatment.” Danse was still shirtless (and stunning), but he smelled of alcohol and Med-X. Said chem was in his hand, and he gently injected 2 mils into the left side of her neck. Her shoulder and a good bit of her left arm went blissfully numb. Nora sighed happily before pulling her right hand up to start unzipping the suit. A zipper on her wrist came loose and she reached up to pull the main zipper down some. Danse held on to her sleeve as she pulled her arm free but had to be creative and quick to not flash the man. Her off-white undergarments weren’t exactly worth showing to the whole world. Her whole left arm was limp now and Dogmeat moved up to rest his body across her chest, over her modesty covering arm. Danse quickly cleaned the wound with some whiskey and took some forceps in to pull out the bullet. Another quickly dousing of whiskey and three stitches and Nora was good to go. Course she had to wait for the feeling in her arm to come back before she could pull her arm through.

 

By the time Danse was stitching her, Codsworth and Curie had woken up and had come over. Codsworth had insisted she drink some fresh purified water he made and Curie was congratulating Danse on his work. Cait, Curie said, was concussed, but alive. She had been pistol whipped by a Raider while protecting some freed slaves. Deacon and Strong had gone through all the bodies and looted all of them. Strong had followed her orders and had taken his dinner and wrapped it up in a tarp to hide it from the others. Hancock was organizing everyone back into order, showing off his true skills as a leader. Preston was more hands on; securing broken crates, catching a few stray Brahmin and tying them back to their wagons. MacCready and a few others were still on the lookout, but Nora saw him look over at her through his scope a number of times. “Danse, could you go help get our teams back in alignment? Curie and Codsworth can help me from here.”

 

Danse nodded and went to help Preston, as Nora shooed Dogmeat off. Both of the robots moved quickly to cover her from peeking eyes, with Curie moving her arm back into its sleeve. Codsworth offered his arms and Nora pulled herself to her feet. Both of them insisted Nora finish the purified water and walked her back to the wagon. Not that it took much insisting; she was cotton-mouthed from the chem. Just as everyone was getting ready to leave, her PipBoy lit up again. Everyone stilled, but the clap of thunder told them it wasn’t an attack, but a Rad storm. Nora and the normal caravan-ers made a quick agreement; they would stay in the Raiders old camp, until the storm passed through.

 

A few of the Slog-trader ghouls were to watch the Brahmin up at the top of the crest as everyone else moved down the hill. Deacon, true to his spy nature, had somehow gotten ahead of all of them. It turns out there were a few Raiders left, but all were bonded and gagged with Railroad napkins by the time they all got down. Further into the Raider camp, it soon became obvious why these Raiders were so hard to get rid of. Their camp was on the outside of a deep cave, in which everyone could get in. Nora and her companions took an old camper trailer that had been moved into the cave.

 

Whiskey, bourbon and vodka were being passed around between them. Strong, now full and content, was grumbling about ‘humans drink, humans become weak’ and was leaning against the outside of the trailer. His old blanket was fanned out over his legs and he was holding his large stuffed Yao Guai-skin teddy bear that Nora had made for him. He was dozing, but not fully asleep.

 

Hancock and Deacon seemed to be trying to out lie each other; Nora really couldn’t tell anymore after the ‘seen a Super Mutant in a brothel’ story. Danse had to down three of Vadim’s moonshines just to get buzzed, while Preston and MacCready were half slumped over at this point. Nora was feeling fine and dandy, thank you. She finished off her last bites of Cram and her fifth vodka and Nuka. Both Codsworth and Curie were at the entrance of the cave with a few other look outs, and Dogmeat was being used as a pillow by the lounging MacCready. Sighing contently, she leaned herself over to her left and met the solid muscle of Danse’s arm. He pulled a full bottle of bourbon to his lips and sucked it all down. Nora rubbed her cheek into his arm and closed her eyes, hmming softly as Danse wrapped that arm around her waist, likely to hold her up.

 

“…telling you. They were as big as Strong’s fists. All of the shirts she wore were either tank tops or busting at the seams.” Deacon exclaimed, flailing his arms-and spilling his drink- to make the story more dramatic.

 

“If a woman had breasts like that, she couldn’t aim a sniper rifle. They’d get in the way. Now, a good pair of tits on a woman need to be a bit bigger than-“

 

“Gentleman, please. We aren’t alone,” Preston called from his position by the fire as he leaned backwards against a trading crate. Nora smiled at him. Preston was a gentleman and wasn’t interested in ‘guy’ talk around women. If Nora wasn’t drunk, she would probably tell the two the same thing. The thing was, she  _was_  drunk.

 

“You need a woman with a pair like mine. Big enough to see and imagine, but not get in the way of a missile launcher.”

 

It was stone silence for about two seconds before Deacon and Hancock both literally rolled onto their back, howling in laughter. Preston was stunned and from his face, half way mortified. She pretended she didn’t notice MacCready’s stare at her chest under his hat, or the way Danse’ hand tightened for just a second.

 

“And with that, time for the greatest tits in the land to hit the hay,” Nora grinned and pushed herself up, using Danse as a crutch. Wobbly and very drunk, Nora tried making her way around Strong to her sleeping mat. Strong, for all of his brutality, knew that men and women were different. He had actually insisted that Nora sleep next to him as ‘soft woman make human men crazy’, which Nora took as Super Mutant gentleman logic. Nora caught Strong’s foot with her own and was about to tumble when Strong’s hand came up and caught her in her stomach. Grumbling about noisy humans, Strong pulled Nora up against his chest, pulled the blanket over and up to her waist and cuddled her in his arm. Nora, now flush against his chest, couldn’t help but feel like maybe Strong needed a second teddy bear. The guys all looked over, ready to pull her free, but she just smiled. Listening to his strong but slow heart, in her drunken stupor, Nora didn’t even try to get off him and instead snuggled in to sleep.

 

It was late, 3:23 according to her PipBoy, when Nora was woken up by biological needs. Looking over, she saw that Deacon and MacCready hadn’t moved away from the fire and were passed clean out. Hancock was still up; he was sitting on a far-off rock with a cigarette in his mouth and his hat pulled down low. Danse, who didn’t need much to any sleep, was in a form of meditation instead. Only Preston had gotten to his sleep mat and was sleeping peacefully. Strong was still holding her in a loose grip, but he didn’t even react as she slipped off his torso and wobbled off to the entrance.

 

With some care, Nora climbed her way to the Raiders’ toilet, which was about 50 feet from the cave. Sighing at the good/bad part of the Vault suit, Nora pulled the zipper down from her neck, all the way down, over her navel, her mound and around the back to the top of her ass. It effectively made it two pieces that were held together by the back and the zipper. Untying one side of her underwear, she freed herself to pee.

 

Sitting down on the seat, Nora took care of business… only to get spooked by someone coming in. She slammed into VATS and was about to go medieval on the pervert, only for her screen to read Preston Garvey, non-hostile. Preston, for his part, quickly took notice of her state of under-dress, and was moving to shield his eyes, even in VATS time. Dropping out of VATS, Nora crossed her legs and shoved her hands in her lap. She was now glad the suit was so tight that it covered her breasts even when unzipped. In this position, with Preston still having his eyes covered, Nora’s still blissed out state had her snickering and finally laughing. “Well, Hello Mr. Garvey. You seem to have caught me with my pants down.”

 

Preston bit his lip to stop himself, but Nora still heard a snort of laughter. “It seems so, General. I’ll wait out-well, I will wait on the other side of-yeah.” Preston uncovered his eyes as he stepped out of the room, and bless him, he didn’t look.

 

Well, that wasn’t going to do…

 

Nora fixed her underwear and zipped herself most of the way up, but left some of her upper chest open, just to be a little tempting. Preston, as far as she could tell, just didn’t look at her female bits. She sometimes wondered if he just didn’t see gender at all. However, she was drunk and needing a little vindication about her earlier statement of having great tits. It still floored her how open sexuality had become in the Wasteland. Hancock, and Cait, said she was the first completely ‘one side of fence’/ ‘one side of the pond’ either of them had met. So, if this didn’t work, she wouldn’t be entirely surprised.

 

Coming out of the bathroom, Nora grinned at Preston… who  _did_  glance at her open collarbone and cleavage, but his eyes focused on her shoulder. His nose wrinkled, and he reached out quickly, and when she tensed (my goodness, how forward of him) he raised a finger and pointed to her arm. Nora looked down and wrinkled her own nose at the huge mess of purple covering her upper shoulder. “No wonder it hurts even while I am drunk.” Nora mused and shrugged. Injuries were commonplace to her now.

 

“Let’s get some ointment on it and a bit more Med-X,” Preston commented, but when Nora raised her brow, he added, “After I use the bucket and wash up.” The two smiled at each other and Nora left him to his business. Now walking back up to the cave was a major trial, and Preston actually caught up to her at the entrance. Dogmeat and Codsworth acknowledged the two of them and Codsworth handed over another water. They ran into Curie in the first aid tent as Preston got some supplies. Heading back to their part of camp, Nora noticed that Hancock was finally asleep and Danse was either asleep or in deeper meditation. Strong had rolled over onto her sleep mat with his stuffed bear, leaving the camper open. Walking in and taking in the fact that this camper had a half way decent mattress, Nora plopped down and unzipped her wrist. With a few tugs and pulls, Nora’s arm came free and so did her bra covered chest. Preston covered his eyes again, but Nora snorted and waved him off. “Nothing you haven’t seen before Preston; fix me up, please.” Nora pulled her right arm under her head and let her eyes close, fighting some of the dizziness that came with the walk back in.

 

If she wasn’t still half-drunk, she probably would have thought this situation amazing/funny. Shy, gentleman Preston working very hard to only look at her shoulder as he injected some Med-X. He washed up the stitches with some leftover whiskey and dried it before putting ointment covered gauze on the wound. However, she was half-drunk, and that made her look at things differently. “Tell me something, Preston. Are you un-seduce-able?” Preston’s eyes ballooned, and his hands immediately flew from her shoulder. “I mean, I understand if you played for one team, but nothing seems to phase you.”

 

Preston was quiet for a bit, wrapped up her arm in tape to keep the gauze in place. “I guess… I just didn’t realize… you were trying.” Preston sighed to calm himself before looking into her eyes finally. “I didn’t think I was someone you wanted to seduce.” Preston looked at her with those sweet, dark eyes and Nora fell into them.

 

She wrapped her right hand against his cheek and nudged him down to her face. Preston held her eyes until the last moment as his lips touched hers. Gentle and warm, Preston kissed her whole lips. So gentle, but Nora still felt a moan bubbling in her throat. Small smacks of their lips together before Preston kissed with some force, pulling that bubbled moan up and out of her as a sigh. His tongue lapped gently are her lower lip and when she opened just a bit, it lapped at her bottom teeth. Just as she was about to wrap her tongue around his, he pulled it back before kissing her bottom lip and leaning completely away.

 

They looked at each other, and Nora smiled as she sat up. “After all the things we have been through, Preston, you are definitely someone I wouldn’t mind seducing.” Nora’s hand moved into his short hair under his hat and rubbed the back of his neck and head. Preston sighed again, using the voice that gave her shivers, and leaned into her hand. He followed her lead as she pulled him to her again. This time, he started to crawl onto the mattress with her, but froze and looked behind him. The camper door was open; Nora  _almost_  didn’t care but nodded to it. Preston got up and walked to close the door, allowing Nora to zip down the rest of the Vault suit to her navel and reached for her other wrist.

 

“Does this… mean something?” Preston asked as he reached to help her with her right arm. His voice hitched slightly, and it had been starting to drop some with his arousal. Nora looped her now naked arms around his neck and kissed his check before pushing her face into his neck. She inhaled his scent and was a bit surprised at how good he smelt after so long on the road. 

 

Pulling back so they were face to face again, she rested her nose to his and pet the back of his neck. “This? This is some stress relief with a close friend. One that I couldn’t imagine not having in my life. Later… well, later is later.” Nora leaned in and kissed him again, this time taking the lead and coasting her tongue against his bottom lip. He sighed heavily as he opened his mouth and wrapped his own around hers.

 

Nora’s hands moved down to start pulling at his overcoat, never breaking their contract as she got it down his shoulders and arms. It took some maneuvering, especially with those gloves still on, but Preston was now coatless just as he pulled away and to the side of her neck, kissing just behind her ear before taking the shell between his teeth. He nudged her down more into the mattress and sucked and licked her neck like she was rich ice cream. Moaning and wiggling at the feelings, Nora reached to her back for her bra’s clasp. It took some wiggling with Preston feasting on her neck, but she finally got it. Preston’s fingers slowly slide the straps down, causing goosebumps as the bra was removed. He was using hardly any pressure, but the gentleness was a quick flame to her lions.

 

Preston hmed in pleasure at seeing her naked chest. He dove mouth first between them, giving a sweet kiss to her breastbone, before taking her left nipple into his mouth and rolling it slowly. His right hand, still gloved in soft, supple leather, came up to rub and soothe her scalp. His left, also still gloved, reached down to slip the zip over your mounds and, with some help from her, up to the top of her ass. His fingertips traced the line of her hips on her flesh from the back before moving up and taking her thigh in his hand. The fabric of the suit rubbed into her thigh as his hand massaged her thick flesh. He pulled the limb around his hip before moving his hand back up to cup her right breast.

 

Preston knew what he was doing; sucking and rolling her nipples into hard little points. He pinched and flicked her right and tried sucking most of her left breast into his mouth. Nora had to pull her hand up and bite into it to stop the loud moans that came out. It got worse when Preston gently bit and pulled on her nipple, then he pushed both of her breasts together, and pulled both of her nipples into his mouth and sucked. Somewhere between his sucking and her moaning, he got his under shirt unbuttoned and was frantically getting it off. As he growled from frustration and left her breasts, she reached to squeeze them. Fuck, she had heard that sound before, but it was so much hotter in context.

 

Nora moaned softly as he was unveiled. Preston was tone and cut nicely, though a few laser burns covered his left ribs and hips. It looked to be in only scar; the slash from earlier would be gone with the stimpak. A fine dusting of thick, curly hair was at the center of his chest with another small patch from his navel down. Nora hm-ed and crept her fingers through the patches of hair, watching with pleasure as Preston’s muscles jumped and shook. He leaned down again to push his tongue deep inside her mouth, making both of them groan.

 

“How do you want to do this, Gen-Nora?” Preston questioned as he loosened his belt and opened his pants. From the nice size bulge, Nora wondered if it had been awhile for Preston too, to get hard so fast. Nora moved her leg to tighten around his waist and pulled that bulge right against her naked mounds, shivering hard. Preston’s back and shoulders stiffened too, and a sputtering breath fell from his lips.

 

 “Get me nice and wet, Garvey. Then fuck me like this. I want to watch your face.” Preston turned sheepish again, even turning a bit red at her command, but grinned after a few moments. He nipped at his glove on his right hand and pulled it off before tossing it aside. Barehanded, his fingers moved through her thick pubic hair until he touched her wet lips. Licking his mouth, Preston moved himself down and stuck his nose into her pubes and sniffed loudly. Nora, despite being a previously married woman and somewhat adventurous since waking up, felt herself heat up as Preston ran his tongue into her folds. It definitely hadn’t been one of Nate’s things, but she was definitely going to enjoy it if it was Preston’s.

 

Preston’s tongue ran long strips from the top of her outer lips to the bottom, before wiggling its way into her inner lips. He lapped greedily at her hole while his thumbs pulled her lips back to let him see. Pulling his mouth back some, Preston licked his own index finger before pushing it inside of her. It caused Nora to buck and moan low, which made her bit her hand again. Preston added his tongue to his finger, working her open quickly-almost textbook like- before pulling himself up so they lay chest to chest. He kissed her neck and she felt him shimming and move before she felt the hard, hot head of his cock against her hole. Looking down, she grinned and had to repress the old stereotype that flooded to the front of her mind.

 

“Ready?” Preston asked as his hands held her hips down. She nodded and he pushed in, slowly and steadily. It soon became clear that she couldn’t take him all, but they were both groaning too loud from pleasure to care about fitting perfectly. Preston felt good, hard as stone as he began rocking his hips in and out. Preston laid himself tight to her body, his face into her neck as he fucked in deep and slow. His one hand came up and took hers, squeezing it as he angled her hips a bit higher. With that change, Nora had to bite into his neck as she began to whine and whimper in pleasure; felt so good.

 

It wasn’t a long coupling, both of them with alcohol still in their systems, long days of the road, and somewhat long times inbetween their last ones. But damn, it was just what Nora needed. Preston was losing his rhythm, but he was committed to pleasing her. Pulling his other hand from between their bodies, he pet her clit in frantic strokes. It was enough for her as she came, keening into his shoulder and squeezing the hell out of his other hand. Her walls clamping down on his cock, stilling him and he gave several throat bruising grunts as he emptied himself inside of her before collapsing completely on to her. Panting and pleased, Nora put both her hands around his head and neck, just holding on to the man. His hands moved to her lower back and squeezed her as they settle. Preston pulled his head up to look at her, smiling blissfully before giving tons of post sex kisses and happy hms to her lips.

 

After a few minutes of post-sex cuddling and glow enjoying, Strong made them both jump a foot when he gave a cave rumbling snore as he rolled back onto the wall of the camper. Nora chewed her lip to stop from laughing and Preston pressed his face into her neck again, quietly doing so. “Are you alright? Sorry… it’s been a bit since I was with someone. I didn’t hurt you in any way, did I?” Preston asked as he stroked her hair from her face.

 

Nora smiled and kissed his nose to help him relax. “It felt great Preston. Thank you. I really needed that after three Raids in three days.”

 

Preston smiled and stroked down her neck slowly again. “Next time, we should do this without stress from the Raids.”

 

 Nora made a show of gasping before answering, “Mr. Preston Garvey, I do believe I have corrupted you.” Preston grinned and rested his nose against her nose for a few seconds longer before extracting her legs from his waist and moving to sit up. Nora sighed contently as she sat up too. Taking an unused piece of gauze, Nora swiped the juice that slipped out of her before redressing and making sure she looked normal. By the time she was up and standing, Preston was fully clothed too.

 

“I will take the rest of the supplies back up to Curie. See you in the morning, General?” Nora cocked her brow again and pulled the dark man down to kiss him. “Nora?” Preston added, slightly breathy, and Nora smiled and kissed him lightly before quietly opening the door. Strong was off her sleeping mat finally, and she dragged it a little further way from the giant before settling down again.

 

She never paid any mind to the smell of a fresh lit cigarette or the several non-hostile dots that were on her PipBoy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetad and all. I didn't plan on these extra characters showing up, but muses are weird. I would love to make this a weekly thing, but my writing is very very unpredictable. 
> 
> Extra Tags: Hangovers, move friendly touching, bad language (from MacCready!), some angst, mentions of Fallout 3 characters, Nora being a badass, Deacon being a pervert, Hancock being a tease. (Poor Garvey)

Nora moaned in frustration and temper as  _someone_  was literally  _poking_ her awake. She was awake enough to know she was hurting, but asleep enough to not remember why. The poking continued, and Nora actually snarled before sitting up. “Just what the f-“ She was now face to face with pitch black eyes and a pair of non-lips gently covered her own. It wasn’t even a kiss; more like a meeting of faces just too close to each other. Caught off guard, she made a sound of a stepped-on mouse, and jerked back.

 

“Oh, now  _that_  was the cutest thing I’ve ever heard, Princess. And I have heard you gush at Dogmeat’s newest litter.” John Hancock was grinning at her, crotched down to her level. That rough, deep voice was far too jovial for… well whatever time of day it was. He was freshened up, but the heavy scent of chems and cigarettes was always around him. Nora had about 3 seconds to ponder what he was doing and give him a cussing out, when she realized her head was about to split open.

 

Hissing and doubling over at her waist, she dug her fingers into her head and whined. A pair of scared hands came up to catch her from completely tipping over and a gentle shush sounded next to her ear. “Easy, Princess, I got something for ya,” John cooed gently to her as he leaned back. Keeping one hand on her upper arm, he reached behind her and pulled out a fresh water. He set it down between her knees and reached into his chem stash. He pulled out a small bottle of Daytrippers and looked them over. Hm, he had three left; she probably could spend a week in happy land on just half of one. It’d have to do. Popping the cork off the little glass bottle, he popped one between his fingers and placed them near her face.

 

“Bite this in half and drink the water, Princess. You’ll be right as rain,” Nora looked up at John’s command and noticed the pill. She wrinkled her nose but leaned in to bite it. She didn’t notice that her lips actually caught a small piece of his fingers, or the way the ghoul stiffened just a hair. She did her best to swallow it without water, but she ended up needing it. John used a finger at the base to help her/ command her to finish it. Coughing and still groaning, it took a few moments for the chem to work, but hoo-boy did it ever.

 

“Johnnnnn,” Nora sang as she half-plopped herself into his arms, hearing him cackle as he pat her back.

 

 

“Love it when you get cuddly, doll-face.” The ghoul was still grinning as he helped her up, ofphing as she half climbed onto him to hug him more. Didn’t help that she actually only half an inch shorter than his 5’ 9” frame and that she had  _an ass_ to help throw her weight around.  _Damn_ , sweet thing was always affectionate, even to a ghoul like him. Give her a whiskey or half a day-tripper, and she was just as likely to hug onto a Deathclaw. “Come on, Princess. It’s your turn to clean up.” Hancock extracted himself from her tight wrap and walked her to the campfire.

 

Nora hummed and skipped along next to him as they arrived. Danse had found a fantastically-tight, off-white T-shirt and he was helping with breakfast. Preston, sweet, gentlemanly, setting-fire-to-one’s-lions Garvey was noticeably tired and yawned just before putting a bit of mutfruit to his lips. Deacon had a fresh tato on his plate and the spy was looking over a map that was between him and MacCready. Mac looked like hell had beat him with a brick and Nora giggled. All of them turned, looked at her, and then turned to glare at Hancock, who simply shrugged. “She had a hangover. We can’t have ‘The Holy Terror of the ‘Wealth’ walking around with a hangover. We need that beautiful brain.”

 

 Nora sighed happily, leaning on Hancock’s shoulder for a moment before skipping over to MacCready. Looking over her young pup’s face, she grabbed him by the cheeks and kissed his forehead. “And this is why we don’t let him have more than 4 shots from now on, correct, gentlemen?” MacCready scowled at her, but Nora just traced those grumpy wrinkles with her fingertips. “My little young one-”

 

“Someone get her some more water before she starts drawing hearts everywhere… again,” MacCready scowled more as she kept petting him between his eyes. It was hard having her pet and coo over him, especially because her zipper was… “And someone get her a change of clothes. Looks like her zipper is breaking.” MacCready ducked out from under his boss’ petting and pulled his face down. It wasn’t like he was  _trying_  to see down the suit.

 

Nora huffed at being lectured by her sniper pup, but was gently pulled away by a hand on her wrist. Seeing that the hand was connected to her Lieutenant General, Nora hummed again and sat down with him. She leaned into his shoulder and sighed contently, brightening up even more as he handed her a water. Preston also gave her a few fresh grilled tatos that she chomped down quickly. It took two more waters before Nora finally started coming out of her high. She blushed five shades of red and scooted herself away from Preston. “Damn, sorry MacCready. I didn’t mean… to get all in your face.” Nora groaned and covered her face. Jesus, the things she did when she was high or drunk.

 

MacCready smiled despite his obvious hangover. “Not a problem, Boss. Though you do need to look at the shoulder again this morning.” The sharpshooter sipped his own water as he pointed out a second route to Deacon. Nora looked over to her shoulder and saw the tiniest amount of purple visible from under the hole in her suit. Damn eagle eyes.

 

Preston stopped mid-bite and set down his plate. “General, may I?” Oh lord, how she wished she could get him past her title. Wait… last night… Oh shoot. Well, bless the Big Green Jewel, she had actually got him into bed with her. It had only taken 6 or so months and crap ton of innuendos.

 

“My, how forward of you, Mr. Garvey.” Nora winked and Preston blushed, but a twinkle came to his eye.

 

“General, please,” Preston used that tone whenever he was being too serious for Nora’s liking, but she knew what was needed. She took hold of her zipper and started to pull it down for her shoulder to be addressed, only to have the tiny bit of metal snap off in her fingers.

 

“Well, shit… about that change of clothes…”

 

“Green bag, third from the left,” MacCready said without looking. Deacon reached behind himself, tapped each bag, before throwing the right one to her and Preston. The man offered her his hand and she took it. Standing there, just under his chin, Nora saw a new flush over take the man’s neck. She tried to control her own blush as she could just see her bitemarks under his upturned collar. Needing a quick distraction, Nora called on her trusty, “Anybody seen Strong?”

 

Danse huffed but responded in a neutral monotone. “The mutant is outside going through the Raiders from yesterday. It was looking for any leftover weapons that were in good enough condition to trade once we arrive.” Damn, that was the calmest Danse had ever been when talking about Strong. Looks like this travel trip was just want he needed too.

 

“All right, I will see you gentlemen in a few. Preston,” Garvey passed over the bag of clothes and she pulled in on her good shoulder. “Give me a few moments and you can rebandage me.” Preston nodded, and Nora went off behind the camper… and came right back out almost immediately. “Hancock…” The ghoul didn’t even look as he pulled out the knife from the back of his pants and handed it over. “Thank you,” Nora went back around.

 

Stupid zipper was stuck, but a quick push and pull of Hancock’s knife got it down enough to use her fingers on it. Unzipping it all the down, Nora stepped out of the suit and shook it out. Aside from the zipper (easily fixed) and the hole in her shoulder (she had tons of patches) it was filthy. Folding it up to be packed in with their dirty clothes, Nora started fishing through the bag. She had a second 111 suit, but it was only enforced for radiation, which they hadn’t been running into. Her 81 suit was lined with some ballistic weave, but it was fraying at the knees and elbows. Hell, even the inner thigh seams and material were thinning. She set out the suit and dug in again for her secret stash. She had expressly told the guys and Cait to bring some clothes that they didn’t mind getting wet. After Mac mentioned that the river should be purified for a good stretch, Nora knew she was going to introduce all of them to swimming.

 

 In the bottom, next to her two other pairs of undergarments, was a black tanktop and a pair of shorts she had cut from a dirty pair of pants. They were a bright pink that really would not work with the suit, but she wasn’t risking her thighs blowing out her seams. One of the consequences of living in the ‘Wealth, Nora was no longer the slim suburbanite she once was.

 

Gone were her weak, but trim arms. She was now strong enough to carry people off the battle field and into cover. Her legs had gone from fit enough to jog around the neighborhood for an hour to running flat out over rough ground and hills for the same time. Nora ran her fingers down her arms, feeling the muscles flex and turn. Down she ran her hands until they ran over her ribs and stomach. Not fully defined yet, Nora could still see the start of grooves that were forming a six pack. She brushed against a few of her stretch marks before cupping both hands to her hips. She still hadn’t lost the fullness of them even with all her running. Hancock regularly made flirting comments about her having the best ass and hips in the whole post war world. She smirked and ran the tips of her fingers down her outer thighs. The last time her thighs were even close to this thick was when she did ballet and ball room dancing in high school. She had to admit, she loved rubbing her hands over her hips and legs.

 

Sighing and getting her head back to reality, Nora reached up, wincing once and unhooked her bra. She tossed it onto the dirty vault suit and started shimming out of her panties. Her next pair were still off white, but she had sewn a small pink ribbon into the front of both. Just a touch to make the unisex like panties a bit feminine.

 

She had just gotten the suit over her legs and was zipping it to her navel, when a knuckle rapped on the camper. Covering her torso, she looked over her shoulder to see Garvey with some fresh supplies. “General? Are you decent?” His voice was a lowered whisper, and Nora clenched her eyes and bit her lower lip. After last night, she was never going be able to stand it when he whispered again.

 

“Lieutenant General, when have I ever been decent? How about excellent? Grand-”

 

“Fantastic!” called a gentle baritone from back at the fire. Nora grinned and snickered at Deacon’s add on. She heard Preston laughing softly behind his lips and caught his eyes. Nora bit her lip again, and Preston swallowed harshly as he stepped around the corner. He set the supplies down on her bag and slipped off his gloves, then his coat to hold to her front. She took it, but then curled a finger around the top button of his undershirt and pulled him close.  She noticed that her teeth were still there, though hard to see in his darker skin. Whispering as low as she could, she said, “It’s alright Preston. Nothing you haven’t  _seen_ before,” Nora grinned against his ear and kissed the shell gently. Preston pulled his face back, staring at the ceiling of the cave and breathed sharply through his nose. After letting out the breath and shaking his head, he met her eyes again. Nora smiled, lowering her lashes and looking at him through them. Preston grit his teeth and stared at the ceiling again, licking his lips as he cleared his throat. Giggling softly, Nora kissed his cheek, more friendly than sultry and whispered again. “Not making this easy for you, huh, Lieutenant General Gravey?”

 

“No, ma’am, you are not. Please,” Preston looked down into her chocolate eyes with his own and Nora conceded. Poor man was so used to being a solider, he forgot how to play the flirting game. He was damn good at what he did though, and Nora would never fault him for his loyalty.

 

Keeping his coat tight to her chest, Nora turned and sat down on the ground, making herself comfy. Preston turned back around the camper and someone handed him a small lantern and a small bucket of water. Setting the light between them, Preston dug into the bucket for the washcloth and soap at the bottom. Scrubbing up his hands, and under his nails she made sure, he reached up to start unwrapping her. The ointment and Med-X from last night had done a lot. Now it was just purple around the bullet hole and the crease where she had slammed  _Big Momma_  down onto her arm. Preston was through though, turning her body slightly to look behind her. Preston looked over to his supplies and was reaching for a stimpak, but Nora grunted. This little flesh wound was not worth the precious medicine. The ointment would be enough to eliminate the chance of a new scar. Preston’s eyes turned back to her, looking disappointed that he wasn’t allowed to help more. Nora leaned forward, allowing their noses and foreheads to touch. She grinned as he stiffened and then relaxed. “I don’t need it, Garvey. Don’t go wasting our medicine on me like that.”

 

Preston sighed, and looked down. “It wouldn’t be a waste, Gener-”  His eyes turned up and burned into her, making her heart jump and flutter. “It wouldn’t be a waste, Nora.” Oh, his soldier tone; just harsh enough to let others know he  _meant_  business. Oh, be still her heart; that tone, those words. He cared so much for others, just like her. She wrapped her fingers around his top button again and pulled him in. Their eyes closed as their lips touched and Nora gave her good friend a few butterfly kisses. Letting him go, she ran her nose up and down his once more before looking at him.

 

 “Preston, I promise. I will ask for it if I need it. On my honor as General, I’ll ask.” She watched as his shoulder’s slumped, but he nodded. He pulled away enough to dig out the washcloth and soaped it up. Taking her left wrist, he gently washed his way up her arm. How this act, of just helping her wash her injured arm, made her blush like a school girl, Nora didn’t want to think on it too much. Finishing her left arm, he pulled it up and washed her under arm, down her ribs and over the left side of her stomach. She offered her right arm, and he washed it too. The washcloth moved around her neck and coasted along her collarbone. Nora chewed her lip as Preston’s face was so close to her neck.  She didn’t expect her gentleman Preston to smirk just a bit and lean in to give her voice box a butterfly kiss. She gave a breathy gasp and stared down at the man, who lost his quick burst of flirty confidence at her face. She grinned and pecked him back on his lips. “Thank you for the cleanup, Lieutenant General General. I need to finish getting ready now, though.” Nora commented a little loudly, just to make sure the others thought Preston was only being a good solider.

 

“Of course, General.” Preston went behind the corner again and offered his hand. Nora grinned and pushed the coat and the pair of gloves into his hand. Preston disappeared, and Nora blew out a little air as she settled herself. Taking the washcloth again, she scrubbed her face and back of her neck before pulling her bra up enough to wash her breasts. Plopping the washcloth back into the bucket, Nora pulled the suit up completely and zipped it. She reached down for the pink shorts and slipped them on. Gods, she could feel the way the suit stretched and even gave a small bit as she pulled them up and buttoned them. Last were her worn-in army boots with thick steel toes. She laced them up tight and clicked her heels together for good measure. Rolling up her dirty clothes, she nabbed the bag, grabbed the bucket’s handle with two fingers and the lantern with her other hand before stepping out.

 

Deacon, quiet as a mouse, moved to her side and took all the things in a quick motion. “You have got to give me some more pointers on this trip, Dee.” Nora said as her arms were suddenly free and Deacon was already off on his way.

 

“Prof needs pointers? Oh, mark the calendars, gents… Wait, does anyone still have a calendar anymore?” Deacon threw out the water, but wrapped up the soap in one of their scarp bags.

 

“At least let me fold my own clothes, Slick.” Nora stepped over to their packs, but Deacon, though some magic hand technique, had her clothes folded, rolled up and half way in the dirty clothes pack before she even got to his side. “Flipping show off,” Nora growled and Deacon gave her a charming smile.

 

“Hey, you try thirty or so years of having to pack up in a hurry. Us men of national intrigue have to be ready to move.” He zipped up the bag and tossed in to their piles. He then slipped around behind her, giving her the barest of head kisses as he slipped by. The first dozen or so times he had done so, Nora was never completely sure if he had. It was only when he had done the same thing in front of her Home Plate’s mirror that Nora knew for sure. Tricky son of a—

 

“Humans ready to go?” Strong called loudly from the entrance of the cave, making the walls and other traders quake in their boots. Nora smiled; ah, another day with her crew…

 

 

“Fu-fffff grr, man it’s bright out here,” Mac was trying to suppress his cuss again. Today he was up with Deacon, driving the Brahmin team. Nora offered him the blackest sunglasses she had, and placed a sunhat over his own, but the poor man still had a raging headache. Nora stood up as best she could in the moving wagon, rubbing Mac’s back with slow, hard rubs as he slumped in his chair. “I think the Mayor’s still got-”

 

“Nah, boss, I can deal with a hangover. Can’t shoot if I am tripping out of my mind.” Mac looked over his shoulder a little and gave her a thin smile. Nora’s heart hurt a little to see her friend miserable. She reached for his chin and moved him over a bit more to kiss his temple. He blushed and looked back to the front. They had a bit of a weird one going; while she felt the same kinship to him as the rest of the crew, their age gap made things a little awkward… at least in her mind.

 

“How ab’ut a hair of the dog that bit ya, eh Mac?” called a sharply Irish voice from beside her. Cait had joined their wagon today, and Nora grinned down at the tiny woman. Cait was a fiery red head with a nasty, nasty right hook and left stomp. She was in a green tank top with her usual red/brown vest over the top that doubled as a lead shield. She had on a pair brown leather pants and her new black boots with steel caps. Nora grinned down at the tiny woman as she finished up her laces and hopped up too. Cait took to her side and reached up to rub MacCready on his lower back. “We don’t need o’r sharp shooter o’t for the co’nt, do we?” 

 

 Mac groaned and leaned against his gun. “Give me a water and a little of the vodka from earlier.” Mac asked and Nora reach down to the food stash for the water. Cait fished out a small flask from her back pocket and handed it over too.

 

“Not the vodka but take a mo’thful of that and yo’ll be fine.” Cait tapped the top of the flask with her nail, before canting her head to the left, looking at Nora. Nora smiled, and the two women flopped down on the crates on the left side of the wagon, where Nora took up her own sniper rifle and scope.  Nora took a few moments to scan both sides of the horizon before looking back at her cage fighter. “Feeling alright, Kitty Cait?” The fiery woman rolled her eyes before smirking.

 

“Aye, boss, just fine. The bump to me head didn’t do much,” Cait gestured to the top of her crown as she reclined into Nora’s side. Nora winked and leaned down to her ear.

 

 

“Ohhh, I wasn’t talking about just thattt,” Nora teasingly sang into her ear, watching the tiny woman’s face flare up a bit. “I noticed a certain little red head did  _not_  join the rest of us for camp last night. Oh, dear me, wherever could she have been?” Nora hammed it up nicely as Cait ran her hand down her face and groaned. “Did he put out? Or she? Did she put-”

 

“How can ya be so casual abo’t such a thing?” Cait’s tone held a bit of an old bitterness that Nora knew was never going away. Cait was a good friend and Nora had gone across the Common Wealth to help her. Taking her to a Gunner-invested vault to finally get her clean. But Nora could not give Cait the last thing she wanted; Nora had no attraction to the woman, besides the obvious ‘she’s a pretty one.’ Cait had tried so many ways to get her to jump the pond and it had taken a long night with 200 caps worth of alcohol and cigarettes for Cait to finally accept the fact. Cait was distant for a few weeks later, not that Nora blamed her. She was still overjoyed to have her cage fighter back when she did return.

 

Looking down at the woman, Nora offered Cait her hand, who hesitated, but finally took it. “Cait, I’m sorry. This is how things are. You know that.” Nora said kindly, but firmly.

 

Sighing, Cait squeezed her fingers. “Aye, I know. I know!... She was a slave like me. Hell, we were in the same camp. I got away ‘fore she did. Turns out, she’d been helping out Bunker Hill since she left. She’s a damn Synth runner, can ya believe it?” Cait was amazed and raised her arms for a dramatic touch. “Can’t believe we ne’er ran into her ‘fore the Institute fight.”

 

“And now?” Nora mused as she scoped the horizon again, giving Cait plenty of time to answer her if she wanted. It took quite awhile, but at Cait’s sigh, Nora tensed.

 

“I think… well, she said something ab’ut joinin’ one of the Synth settlements. The one way up north? It’s one of y’urs… Well, one of the Minutemen’s.”

 

“Outpost Zimonja? I remember a lot of the Institute scientists are also up there. You two going to be sisters in arms, making sure the egg-heads stay in line?”

 

“I ne’er said I was going,” Cait bristled, but Nora knew Cait just wanted her to fight her leaving.

 

“Cait,” Nora turned to fully look at the upset woman, who now could not meet her eyes. “It’s pretty obvious that you two have hit it off. I mean, you protected that woman over attacking the raiders yesterday. I know I’ll missing having you at my side, but if you think she’s going to make you happy, you have my full blessing.” Cait’s head ducked to her knees and hide. “Cait, I’ll always care about you. For Christ’s sake, you know what the two of us went through just to get here. But I can’t be what you want.” Nora squeezed the shaking shoulder as Cait tried to hold make her tears. “Give it a chance Cait. If she breaks your heart, you know you have me and everyone else at your back.”

 

A number of soft agreements, even a ‘hell yeah’ from Deacon, had Nora scowling at the men. Jeez, she meant that rhetorically.  Cait barked a quick laugh, then broke down into small, behind-lips giggles. Nora grinned and pulled the woman in for a hug, which was quickly returned.

 

“Ladies, we just hit Three Dog territory. OHHH YEAH, I’M HOME!!” MacCready shouted and whooped, holding a small radio to his ear. Such excitement obviously wasn’t good for him as he covered his mouth and put his head between his knees for a moment. Nora, slightly panicked, raised her scope to look for some mutant dog.

 

“Where’s the dog, MacCready?!!”

 

The merc snorted, wincing right after and waved her forward. Still looking for this mutant dog, it took a bit for Nora to recognize that Mac was pulling on her PipBoy. “Turn on the radio, boss. Three Dog is the DJ for the Capital Wasteland.”

 

“Who the hell names themselves ‘Three Dog’… wait, Travis calls himself ‘Travis Lonely Mills’ now… nevermind.” Nora pulled out her ear piece and slapped her PipBoy’s volume up for them all to hear. Clicking through the static, a far too energetic voice called through the speaker.

 

“… and that’s out of Megaton. Glad to hear trading with those Ghouls in the Museum has turned so profitable. Now get this, ladies and gents. Your old Buddy Three Dog has it on three different accounts a new sighting of our fabulous Lone Wanderer. Our main man who got the river flowing Rad free. Seems like he’s been going through that old slaver town, Paradise Falls, and is trying to make it into a damn fine place to live. Hope it works for him. And our last bit of news is not so great. Seems the Brotherhood is making waves again, heading back to their old ‘Tech for us, none for you’ ways. Sure thought things would be different after they headed for the Common Wealth. Several sources of mine say that the people of the Common Wealth have really started banding together. Even taking back a  _huge_  old amusement park from tons of Raiders. Sure wish some of that ‘helping out your fellow man’ had rubbed off on them before they came back. So for now, ladies and gents, steer clear of old Vault 112. Seems that’s where they have parked that over grown balloon of theirs. Thanks for listening, Children. This is Three Dog, bringing you the news, no matter how bad it hurts.”

 

The radio cut back to  _Rocket 69_ after the news. Nora stood stock still, taking in all that information. Her head was brimming with questions, but the only thing that fell from her mouth was, “Damn, I like this guy.” She fell silent as she heard the murmurs from the rest of the crew. Looking back and right at Danse, she saw how stiff the man was. Nora debated with herself on addressing him now, but MacCready stole her attention back.

 

“Shit, he’s  _still_ around?” MacCready was floored… and then noticed his slip, smacking his forehead with the scope of his gun.

 

“Cap for the jar,” Deacon and Nora called at the same time as Nora leaned on the merc’s shoulder. “Damn, this ‘Lone Wanderer’ must be a hell of a guy for you to drop one.”

 

MacCready sighed, pulling a single cap from the stripe around his hat and handed it to her. “He’s a lot like you, boss. Back when I was Mayor, he stopped by. Didn’t know who he was from Atom, but he helped around Little Lamplight. Of his own will; sure, we paid him, but he  _asked_ if we needed help. Like Three Dog said, he, his old man and the Brotherhood got a huge purifier running, started making it safe to drink the river water.” Both of their eyes flashed over to Danse quickly at the mention of the Brotherhood, who was taking long, heavy breaths. “Aside from that, he’s kept pretty quiet. Course I left almost a year ago, so who knows what’s happened.”

 

“This Three Dog mentioned some places; Megaton? Vault 112? Are they on the main roads?” Nora shook out her arm and offered the sharp shooter her PipBoy, flipping it to the map.

 

“Vault 112 is supposed to be pretty far west of Megaton and the only way in was through some old car parts garage. Well, so the rumors go.” Mac brushed her map at least a week’s worth of walking west from their current location and tapped a small marker onto the device. “Granted, that’s a general guess, boss. Never went that way myself. We definitely want to hit Megaton, though. It’s about the second biggest settlement in the Caps.”

 

Nora pulled her arm back and fiddled with her map a bit. They were on the main trade route, taking them directly to the Capital if they stayed on it. Looking around the area, she noticed a shaded icon for a vault to their right. It was never a treat to visit and loot a vault, but it was always profitable. Tapping her wrist leather, she pondered the possibilities.

 

“She’s got that look on her face,” Nora could distantly hear Hancock whispering to someone. Nora continued tapping around the screen. Vaults were close, confided spaces and prime targets for any scavenger or thug. She had 30 of her Minutemen, just as many recruits/settlers, her closest friends minus Mayor Valentine and Mayer Wright. Joining her were the 20 Common Brotherhood members, only half having their power armor.

 

“What death trap has she found now?” whispered Deacon, watching as Nora did some math in the air with her fingers. She had 10 wagons in total to carry people and equipment. She’d need to leave a little over half to stand guard over their trade and the few prisoners that had come along. Mac was out; he was best at snipping and she would need him to pick off any reinforcements coming through the door. Strong wasn’t good for narrow space fighting; hand to hand, sure, but he’d have to duck under doorways and… hm, to leave him at the entrance or not?

 

“She pointed to Mac and Big Green, so I think you two are side lined.” Deacon was chuckling under his breath as Nora continued to work it out. Hancock and Preston would definitely be good in a midrange fight, and Cait was her go to hand to hand. She’d send in Deacon and maybe Dogmeat first to see if there was any obvious groups. But she needed to take special care of Danse at the moment; she felt her friend was close to putting on his armor and running for that Vault 112.

 

“Looks like Hancock and I are still in the running,” Preston mused, while Deacon added “Looks like me and the mutt are going in too.”

 

Nora snarled at all the noise and looked up. “What are you lot talking about?”

 

“Paladin, you tend to point and gesture your plans as you make them,” Danse commented. Nora blinked, twice, before looking at everyone else.

 

Most of them were smirking and Preston nodded. “You do, General. That’s how we tend to know who you are talking about before you tell us.”

 

Nora stared at him, tapping on her wrist, before sighing defeated. “Yeah, that makes sense. Alright, ready?” All of them nodded and Deacon pulled the wagon to a halt.

 

Nora pushed his fingers to her lips and let out a shrill whistle that ended in two tweets. Dozens of heads turned in their direction and all wagons started moving to a center behind them. The real traders headed to her left and pulled into their own circle. “Suit up, crew!” Nora added as she jumped out. Hancock switched places with Deacon as everyone else jumped out and headed to the armor wagons. Nora headed to the small group of 12 Majors she had named for this mission. “Gentlemen, ladies,” Nora greeted. All of them responded with hearty ‘General’ or ‘General, ma’am’.

 

 “We’ve got a Vault close by. I am going to take a small crew in and clear it. Once it’s clear, we’ll use it as base tonight. I want three teams with Lt. General Garvey on the outside, making sure no one gets out that shouldn’t. Sniper MacCready and Strong will also be at his disposal; I don’t want any friendly fire. All other teams are to be suited up and on guard with The Common Brotherhood, Danse and Mayor Hancock. I will instruct Danse and our MinuteRobots on positions. Follow their orders to the letter. Frank,” Nora looked to her Major from the Castle, who stood a touch straighter. “Have the prisoners been taken care of today?”

 

“Ma’am, all were feed and watered at the schedule times.”

 

“Good. I am going to use one of them. The others are to be under the usual orders but get them into any shade. I am not sure how long this will take.”

 

“General, forgive me, but those people are dangerous.” A new Major, a green-eyed girl from Jamaica commented with a respectful tone.

 

“I know, but they are damn good at what they do. Orders have been given. Suit up.” Nora commanded, and each saluted before moving off.

 

“You are going to use one of those people?” Danse was behind her, looking a strange mix of murderous and worried. Nora’s tense shoulders slack a bit as she smiled up at her giant friend. Her smile made his nose and upper lip curl slightly.

 

Sighing, she fully turned to face him and nodded. “I am; I need a small team for this. Based on what Deacon finds, it might change, but for now, yes.”

 

“You could easily take another of us. If you are looking for a fighter for closer range engagement, the ghoul would be more than adequate for the task.” This was Danse for ‘I trust you with a ghoul more than a Raider human.’ Which did make a lot of sense.

 

“Again, Danse, I am sending in Deacon and Dogmeat for entrance recon. If there is nothing if obvious –heads on pikes or bloody dismembered bodies- we will need to get in there quietly. Hancock will be coming then.”

 

“Why not me?” Though his face was solid as stone, Nora knew he was hurting. Danse had been getting the short end of the stick lately on her missions. She had never  _planned_  to leave Danse out for the last few weeks. Things in Diamond City… just had  _not_  gone to plan. Nora swallowed her rising bile and shook out her hand; one of her nervous ticks.

 

“Danse… you know that between us, I’d never lie to you, right?” Danse nodded stiffly. “I do not trust you to not let your temper out in the wrong way right now.” Danse’s eyes widened for just a moment, but his face grew harder. “Right now, I know that news over the radio has you wanting to run for Vault 112, wherever that is,” Danse’s eyes flashed to the sides. “I don’t know what you would do once you got there, but I know what they would do.” Nora reached up to her 6’ 4”, massive solider and cupped his bristly cheek. Danse tensed and directed his eyes back to hers. She ran just the tips of her first two fingers just under his eye. “I will  _NOT_  have you run to your death, _Paladin_  Danse.  _That_  is an order. Your orders are to stand guard with your fellow soldiers, protect those that can’t defend themselves, and wait for my return. Am I understood?”

 

Danse reached up and pulled her hand away, and she dropped it the rest of the way. “Affirmative. Where will I be stationed?” Danse’s voice was just a touch brittle and all Nora wanted to do was hug him. He wouldn’t allow it though.

 

“Power Armor on and to the rear. I am posting Codsworth to your 3, Curie to your 12, and Hancock on the 9.” Danse nodded and walked off… without even a good bye. Nora took a deep breath through her nose and rubbed the palm of her hand. He was always just a touch warmer than her.

 

“Tin man is edgy again, huh?” Hancock was walking up to her left and she turned to the smoking ghoul. He gave her face a once over, blew out a ring of smoke and gently wrapped his hand around her wrist. Tugging gently, Nora was pulled against the ghoul, nestling her face into his neck. Nora’s nose wrinkled at the smoke, but Hancock’s warmth and kindness kept her snuggled against him. “Easy there, Princess. He’ll come around.” Hancock leaned his scared cheek into her hair and the top of her forehead.

 

“I don’t mean to sideline him, but this thing with the Brotherhood…”

 

“It pisses ya off as much as it upsets him. That’s always how you’ve been, Princess. Someone could call ya every name in the book and ya wouldn’t bat an eye. Someone looks the wrong way at one of us, ya throw punches and bullets.” Hancock cackled as he squeezed her shoulder once more and released her.

 

“Did I really take a chair to that asshole’s head? I really,  _really_  don’t remember.” Nora scratched at the back of her neck and stared up at the sky. He knew that look; the ‘I’m embarrassed but actually very pleased with myself’ look.

 

 

“Heh, you did. And all because they called Dear Nick an overused sex bot and…” Oh, look at that face. The very definition of ‘if looks could kill’. Hancock smirked behind his smoke and reached up to touch her on the end of her nose. Spell over, her face returned to the easy going one she liked to keep up.

 

“Well, Danse was also mad that I am going to take one of the Raiders in with us. Sorry, Hancock, I want you on the 9 today.” The ghoul non-existent eyebrows shot up at that, and he crushed the cigarette between his fingers.

 

“Well, can’t blame Tin man for that one. But you’ve had worse ideas that came out alright. Who else is going in?”

 

“Dogmeat and Deacon,” Nora looked around the wagons and frowned. “Though I suspect he’s already gone in. Did you see him?” Nora tugged on his coat sleeve and walked over to the armor wagon. Couple of the men saw her coming and pushed a box to the back of the wagon for her to pull from. Cracking it open, Nora pulled from her different armors. Her Minutemen coat and hat were on top and she handed those to the others and fished deeper. She checked her PipBoy real quick, and bypassed her heavy, leaded set. She planned to be quick in this mess and pulled out her stealth set. Nice ballistic weave on the inside and ceramic with thin iron plates on her joints and her chest. She set those in Hancock’s arms, who was waiting to her left, and pulled out her shoulder holster. Two pistols would be at her hips with the holster, either a shotgun or rifle on across her back, and a loop at the bottom of the holster allowed her a second rifle or shotgun. This time, though, she was going to use that loop for a bat… maybe her ax. The holster also came with a shit ton of clips and pockets for ammo. Snapping the belts into place and taking her pieces out of Hancock’s arms, Nora was suited up and almost ready.

 

“Still nothing?” Nora and Hancock both looked around, and the ghoul pointed to Dogmeat, who was trying to jump up into the wagon that had his pups.

 

 “Sure doesn’t look like it. Maybe the asshole finally turned tail and ran.”

 

“I still don’t get it. I can get Danse and you going at each other, but what does Deacon do thatOHMYGODHEPITCHEDMYASS!!” Nora screamed murder, having everyone’s attention turned to her as she rose up on her toes and covered her ass. She heard Hancock snarl and throw a punch at the space behind her, but a chuckle was now coming from her right side. “You mother-“

 

“It’s a real missed opportunity that we don’t have a swear jar for you, Prof,” came an invisible voice, and a body sat down on the wagon’s floor in front of her. A very small shimmer gave away just the edge of Deacon face before it completely disappeared again.

 

“It’s real low to uses a damn StealthBoy to sneak up on a lady,” Hancock growled as his coal eyes flashed around, trying to catch a view of the shimmer. A rustle of wood and Nora knew Deacon was already gone again.

 

“And on that note, Prof. Vault looks to be crawling with Raiders. Classic heads on sticks just inside the cave,” a few button presses sounded, and Deacon was now visible next to Nora’s right side. “How are we going this?”

 

Nora stared (Hancock glared) for a moment before popping him on the nose. Not a punch; but a nice jab that made Deacon hiss and double over at the waist. “Jesus, Dee, buy a woman dinner.” Hancock barked a laugh and even a few of the Minutemen tried to shyly snicker. “The plannnn, is for you, me, Dogmeat,” who came running right over, “Cait, and that behemoth of a Raider to get in and take down.”

 

Deacon rubbed the bridge of his nose, sniffed once and stood stock still as he took in her plan. “Oh, that sounds like a grand one. A mix of stealth and close quarters. And just what does said behemoth bring to the party?” Deacon looked toward their covered wagon/jail.

 

“You didn’t see him in action. He had 20 Raiders under his boot and took weekly challenges to prove he was ‘Alpha’. Course,” Nora licked her upper lip with a quick flick, ignoring the way Hancock and Deacon watched. “The more ‘Alpha’ one is, the more passive they are once someone rolls them on their backs. He’s the only one to behave enough to get his sentence shortened. Dee, finish getting ready. Gentlemen, I need the bomb collar remote for number 2, please.”

 

Deacon gave a small smirk and hopped back up into the wagon to get his supplies. A small remote was passed to her from the men in the wagon, and Nora double checked the safety was on it before slipping it into her pocket. Nora blinked and looked down as Hancock took her wrist again. “Over here for a second, princess.” Nora hmed in question but followed behind the ghoul as he walked away from the main crowd. Quick glances to all sides told her Curie and Codsworth were already at their stations. Preston was directing the three teams, introducing them to Mac and Strong again, and how those two worked. Cait was using her teeth to make sure her knives were tight in their multiple pockets. Danse and the Common Brotherhood were all back in their armors and Danse was pointing out where they needed to be. Nora felt a new burst of warmth, watching all of these people work together under her command. She nearly ran into the back of Hancock as he stopped next to a large rock. Turning back to her, she felt her shoulders stiffen a little. Hancock had his serious face on; oh shit.

 

“I trust ya, Princess. You’ve taken tons of people down by yourself. I shouldn’t be worried, but I don’t like that lot. You sure ya can handle that guy? I know you; you’ll put him and you on a team alone. You’ll get invested in him. He’ll fake an injury, you’ll come over to fix him and suddenly he’s got his hand on your throat.” Hancock crossed his arms and inclined his head back to camp.

 

Nora wanted to blow off the concern, but if Hancock was voicing it, she needed to consider it. “I wouldn’t if I wasn’t so sure about that guy’s… hidden talents. I met him first, ‘tour of the leaders’ that Gage sent me on. He towered over me, even getting a few steps on me to make himself even more of a giant. But you know what, as soon as I told him he’d need to learn to heel and be a good boy,  _he got flustered_. Told me not to do that in front of his guys. Man is either a hidden masochist or submissive…likely both. I can bring him to heel. Whether he’ll ever get out of that bomb collar, not too sure… what are you smirking at?” OH, Nora always got edgy with Hancock grinned like that. His face half turned away from her, his eyes closed, and his non-lips curling.

 

“Oh, nothing. It just sounds more like ya are looking for a nice sex toy to follow ya around than an ex-raider boss to reform,” A raspy chuckle, and Nora cursed her god damn  _obsession_  with men’s voices. “Didn’t get enough from Garvey?” Hancock tilted his head toward her, winking.

 

Alarm bells sounded in her head. Nora flushed red from her ears to her hands, which quickly rose to cover her face. No, no fucking way. Peeking from behind her fingers, she asked, “Did you…hear us?”

 

Hancock barked another raspy laugh. “No, but the camper was rocking, and Garvey had a  _nice_  set of teeth in his shoulder. You should have been nicer to him; probably the first time in years that guy’s gotten any.”

 

Nora fumed a little and closed the distance between them, sticking her finger dead center of his chest. “Drop it, and don’t mention it to anyone. It was good… wholesome fun, and I know you’d use this to tease him.”

 

For a split second, Nora could had sworn she saw a flash of hurt on the ghoul’s face. “Promise, Princess. Least you got someone makin’ ya feel good, huh? Rather it be him than Tin man; he’d probably knock you through a wall with his poundin’.”

 

“Jesus, shut it Hancock. Please,” Nora grabbed hold of the red coat at his shoulders and was a blushing mess. “Come on, aren’t we friends? Friends don’t tease friends after they get laid.”

 

“You are in the wrong century for believin’ that. I’ll be teasing ya for the next month. I mean, I get it, after 200 years on ice and 6 months in the wastes, I’d be more troubled by ya  _not_  getting laid by now.” Nora chewed her lip, and Hancock whistled as her face turned even brighter. “I stand corrected. Garvey wasn’t the first one, huh?”

 

Nora growled and shook the ghoul at his shoulders for a moment, before staring her fire glowing brown eyes into his. “No, he wasn’t. Hell… he wasn’t even the first of our band of misfits,” Hancock’s jaw dropped, but Nora continued. “I am not telling you the details, but there is a damn reason I don’t drink that moonshine. Now,  _excuse_  me, Mayor. I have a vault to loot.” Nora tried to walk off with her head as high as possible with Hancock still frozen on the rock.

 

She was  _really_  not interested in sharing the details of her sex life. Not now at least.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I actually produced one again this week. I am so proud of myself!! But work starts back on Monday so, yeah. Least Chapter 4 is mostly done at this time.
> 
> Again, unbeta-ed and please excuse spelling and grammar errors. I actually have a couple of learning disabilities that make writing difficult. And yet I love it so... fate is a bitch.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nora was still flaming red as she got back to camp. Luckily, everyone was too busy with prep to stop and ask her why. She should tell Preston. She was not going to regret seducing the man, but she had… well, she had no true idea of his thoughts about them. She really could not see her life in this world without him, but he had lived his whole life in this world. He didn’t need her. Nora bit the inside of her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. No, now was not the time for that train of demons. Biting her tongue to snap herself out of her quick bout of depression, Nora moved in front of the prisoner’s wagon.

 

She had four prisoners with her; all had been offered shorter sentences if they came and  _helped_. Though Nora was sure the reason they actually came was to have a shot at pushing the knife in her back. However, Nora was a woman of law and justice. These four had surrendered as the Minutemen moved through Nuka World and freed it. Others had too, and they were judged and sentenced to working in different parts of the Common Wealth. Many others had not. If not for Deacon and his Stealthboy, Nisha would have been able to stab right up into her lungs. As it was, Nora had needed 3 stimpacks and a week of bed rest after that mess. Looking around the wagon, the 10 guards nodded and readied their weapons. Nora then tore back the over-head cover.

 

“Motherfucker!!” and a number of similar hard half shouts sounded. Mags Black, William Black, Porter Gage and ‘Alpha’ Mason were temporarily blinded by her move. It was a tactic; Nora’s eyes swept over them quickly, making sure each still had their hands locked together. All had handcuffs on with their hands to their front. Gage wore two pairs and Mason also had a band of thick rope around his. Mags moved her forearms up to her eyes, but Nora saw something else move.

 

Jumping in, Nora slammed Mags into the rail of the wagon, pulled her arms down and stomping on them to keep them down. “What did you do now, Mags?” Nora questioned, keeping a bored expression on her face as the blonde woman’s face snarled at her. Nora had lost count of the number of times she had to search Mags. William was the aggravator; trying to get her goat and get her attention off his sister. It worked the first time and she would have lost at least a finger if not for VATS.

 

And almost on cue, “Hello, Overboss, enjoying running through the Wastes playing hero? Killing people for the clothes they wear? Killing-”

 

“Take her out and shove a sock in his mouth. Mason, Gage, hang on a minute,” Nora’s need to be the mannered warden drove her to excuse herself to the ones actually behaving. Three extra sets of hands caught Mags wherever they could, and Nora helped drag the woman out of the wagon. It was a quick standoff; Mags was never a hands-on raider. Her thing was chems, explosives and distance. The Minutemen got her still in a few moments and Nora reached to wrap her fingers around the bomb collar. Mags hissed in a short breath, then smirked at her.

 

“Hello, General. General Black, right? So nice of you to visit us lowly raiders. What can-”

 

 Nora sighed dramatically and shoved her other palm over the woman’s mouth. Mags and William had really gotten a kick out of her full name. Nora had wondered if they were related on Nate’s side. But listening to the two of them, sometimes she really regretted offering the option of surrender to this lot. Her fingers started moving under the bomb collar, started at her voice box. It was under her left ear, on the underside of the collar that she found the contraband. It was thin, wrapped in a small amount of duct tape. Yanking it off, and not minding Mags murderous rage, Nora folded back the tape. A bobbie pin; dangerous, unlikely to work. Mags was getting dangerously despite. Nora stood back some, and looked down at the kneeling woman, twisting the pin back and forth in her fingers. Dangerous and dangerously despite; not a good combination while they were out here, trying to build up a reputation and trade. Her options were limited at the moment; they needed a solid base first.

 

“Separate them. Keep her brother with the other two, but she goes to scrap wagons. Tie her up tight, but her food and water are at their normal times. If you find anything else on her, she loses dinner. Mags, this little, tiny pin just added three months to your sentence. You are now up to 10 years and 6 months, if my math is right. Maybe you should actually try my way before you are just sentenced for the rest of your life.”

 

Mags huffed and tossed her hair back, trying to throw some of the loose strands back into place. “And just who are you to dictate our lives? Are you the new god of the Wastes, here to pass judgements and all? Who put you in charge?”

 

Nora felt a small bit of her dark side slide into place. She hadn’t had one before waking up in the Vault. Mischievous, often. Crude, yes, but not around many. Wishing a great amount of violence on a person, no. Nora closed her eyes, inhaled slowly through her nose and out through her mouth, before her eyes and smirk fell on Mags. Her pupils widened for just a moment before the ex-boss steeled herself. Nora’s hand lashed out, gripped into that beautiful blonde hair, and slammed that nose into her bent knee. Thanks to her ceramic and metal joint covers, Mags was quickly bleeding. Mags hissed through her teeth and swore, but Nora just did it again, this time into her cheek. Nora then knelt down to the bloodied woman’s level and used her finger to coax her head up again.

 

“The Common Wealth people put me in charge. Those that want nothing more than a safe life, where their families can grow and live in peace. Diamond City put me in charge of bringing peace to even the smallest towns and settlements. Goodneighbor put me in charge of all the simple troublemakers, making sure they don’t go too far. I can stand a lot, Mags. But I won’t stand by while someone, like yourself, decides to rob and kill people for themselves. It’s called human fucking decency, and I  _WILL_  bring it back to the wastes. Get on board or go crawl in the gutter. I will give you every chance to do better.” Nora brushed the woman’s hair back into place and rubbed the blood from her nose. “Oh, and Mags. Yes, it is General Black. Thank you for remembering.” Nora stood up and stretched her back. “Clean her up and have the ladies comb her over again. Do the same to William.” Her men nodded and took the woman away. Nora cracked her neck and looked back to the others.

 

Mason had one leg cocked over his other knee and was grinning, which didn’t surprise her. He liked hand to hand and definitely liked using shows of force. Hell, that’s what she’d done in Nuka World in the first place. Killed Colter, ended up visiting the Pack’s area before making it to Fizz Top. Mason lorded his… had to be 6 and a half feet, stature over her. But she had beaten down his third in command before making it to him. Her command for him to be a good dog had gone over far too well. Mason had initially  _liked_  her for her actions. It wasn’t surprising that he still liked it. He was now paint-less, but he still kept his red hair shaved on the sides and his mustache was still curled at the ends.

 

 Gage was sitting quietly, eye closed.  His old yellow eyepatch had been replaced by a soft cloth handkerchief, but Nora noticed he had gotten his hair cut back into his mohawk from last week. Gage was the one Nora was never going to turn her back on. For all his claims of not wanting to get his hands dirty or revenge just getting you killed, Nora knew he was actually a brilliant tactician.

 

“Sorry about that, gentlemen, and thank you for being patient. Mason, I have an offer for you,” Nora spoke easily to Mason. Different tactics for different people was a lesson she learned dealing with the Institute. Reaching into one of her pockets, Nora pulled out a pack of smokes. Not hers, but since a good lot of her friends smoked, she kept extras handy. She held them out in her palm, silently offering them to the Raiders. Gage kept his eye closed, but Mason nodded and started to reach his joined hands over. “Ah,” Nora gently reprimanded. They didn’t get to reach for things, only got to ask for them and have them handed to them. Mason gritted his teeth but dropped his hands. “Thank you,” Nora said as she pulled one from the pack and placed it in his palm. As the brute pulled the stick to his lips, Nora had already clicked her lighter and he leaned down.

 

“Thanks, boss,” Mason pulled the word long, like it stained him to say it. Breaking him of calling her ‘Overboss’ out of spite had been difficult, but there was progress. “What’s the offer? Somethin’ that the pretty General can’t handle on her own? What about the rest of your pack, they ain’t chompin’ at your heels to get in on this?”

 

“Oh, quite the opposite. Most are ready and willing, but I want to give you a chance, Mason,” Nora commented as she sat down squared between the two men. Gage, on her left, was still not moving. To say that Nora had hurt him on a deep level was a very large understatement. Nora could count the number of times he’s talked in her presence since on one hand. Mason blew out a ring and bore his teeth at her. The fact that she acted so nonchalant about being around them irked him to no end, but it worked out. “What are you down to, Mason? Three years hard labor?” Nora posed it as a question, but she knew damn well how long the man had left.

 

Mason nipped at the end of his smoke, before using his tongue to roll it to one side. Nora continued, “That’s damn impressive; I know I haven’t been easy on you. I did notice you have started adopting the young settlers. Caught you teaching one of them how to throw a proper punch. Don’t agree with your demonstration, given that you gave the 10-year-old a bloody nose, but the idea is good. Lots of the people we take in at the start don’t know their fists from their ass. Wouldn’t mind making you a fighting coach,” Nora muse, half to herself, as she fitted Mags’ bobbie pin to her lips, reflecting his posture.

 

Mason snarled and bit his half-finished cig in half, watching as it fell from his lips with a worse snarl. Nora smirked and fished out a second, lighting it in her hand and holding it at face level for the man. His back tensed, and he was obviously debating with himself, but he leaned forward snapped his teeth on the filter and pulled away. Nora mental grinned; just like a stray dog, offer them something, and as long as they take it, it’s a sign they will work with you. “Course, that wasn’t my plan to begin with. You’d do your time, set free while being offered some place in the settlements, and I’d wait to see how you’d do. That’s still very much on the table, but I can now see you being very useful. But that’s neither here nor there. So, we are about to hit a vault and surprise who is inside. My recon team says it’s raiders,” Mason rolled his eyes and puffed hard on the stick; Nora understood the irony. “Cap raiders are supposed to be more close range than even the ‘Wealth’s. I got myself, my recon/stealth team and my best hand to hand fighter going it. I plan on using you as a second hand to hand. I’ll take a full three months off your sentence if you agree and do a good job. Your call,” Nora then turned her eyes fully over to Gage; Mason never liked being watched while he worked out a problem.

 

Gage still sat there, quiet as can be. Nora watched, and after a few seconds, his eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Nora wondered just how perceptive he was with his eye closed. Then she noticed something that did not sit well in her stomach. Thin red veins, anger suckers, were coming out from under his eye-kerchief. They spread up his eyebrow, into his forehead, over the bridge of his nose. Hell, there were some that went down his chin and started traveling down his neck. Standing up, but hovering over him, Nora addressed him. “Gage?” His visible eyebrow raised, he was listening. “I need to look at you. I need to look at your face.” The man grimaced briefly, but finally opened his eye.

 

 “Go ahead, Boss.”

 

Nora reached out, gently as she could and started pulling the patch away. She hissed in disgust and anger at the sight that greeted her. Gage had a slash from a few weeks ago over his upper cheek and lower eyelid. It had now become heavily infected, causing the anger veins. “Gage, answer me: Who was supposed to be in charge of you?” Oh, Nora was pissed! Prisoners or not,  _raiders_  or not, no one was meant to go without medical treatment.

 

Gage stayed silent, watching her,  _reading_  her. Whatever he saw satisfied him enough into cooperating with her demand. “Didn’t get her name. Young one, dark skinned, green-eyes-”

 

The Jamaica Plains’ Major. “We need to get you treated, Gage. If you hadn’t lost it already, you would have lost your eye from this.” Nora fanned out the eye-kerchief and very loosely put it back over his eye on the side that hadn’t touched the infection. It was one of the things Nora knew about Gage after weeks of cleaning up Nuka World; Gage did not like being without a patch. A quick whistle to the outside of the wagon and several of her men were ready for orders. “I am taking both of these men to be seen by the Medic Bot, Curie. Follow me.” She grabbed around Gage’s handcuffs and pulled on him. Gage got up with little effect, but Mason growled around his cigarette, mouthing off that ‘he hadn’t made up his mind yet’.

 

Nora kept a hand on Gage’s cuffs as she drew her fingers to her lips again. This time it was one short tweet, one long note, and two final tweets. All of her closest companions’ heads came up. Their eyes followed her until she arrived at the med wagon and Curie was on her way. Preston, probably seeing her very pissed off face, quickly moved over. Everyone else took out a weapon and watched the two Raiders in her company.

 

Everyone cleared out of her way as she reached into the med wagon and pulled out a chair first. Signaling to Gage, and making sure he sat down, Nora dug out some purified water, soap, ointments and a few other things. Gage was scowling when she turned back to him. “Don’t like it when people make a fuss,” Gage drawled, his eye shifting behind her to all the people watching him. Nora barked a quick ‘back to work!’ and most scattered.  
  
“Madame? What is wrong?” a gentle French accent came from Curie as she hovered to Nora’s left, her eyestalks looking between her, Mason and Gage.

 

“Do you remember that cut Gage got back in Sanctuary, three weeks ago? It looks like no one has taken care of it, Curie,” Nora reported as she again gently removed the cloth from his eye. Curie gasped softly and hovered closer.

 

“Oh, zis simply will not do. Monsieur Gage, please, relax. I and Madame Black will have you right as rain in no time.” Curie laid her claw on his forearm and began taking his vitals. Nora pulled out a fresh Med-X and held it up to Gage’s eye. He thought about it, before giving his consent. Nora injected a few mils into the side of his neck and his temple, watching as his face sagged from the numbing. Getting the infection to drain properly didn’t take long, but the sheer amount of infection was very disheartening. Curie advised to keep his face open to the air to allow it to dry out the rest, and a strong stimpack, some of it directly into the wound. By the time they were finishing up, Preston coughed gently to let himself be known.

 

“I want that Major, Garvey… I think her name is Kate. I want her over here now.” Nora spoke through gritted teeth as washed up her hands and gave the tools to Curie, who quickly sanitized everything. Nora looked around, and quickly found Deacon, waving for his attention. Now in some light weight leather armor, Deacon raised his eyebrow at her. Nora pointed to her face and pretended to tap a pair of glasses and then pointed to Gage.

 

Just as she did, she felt the very tip of a sharp knife, right at her belly button. Nora didn’t move, not an inch, but looked down into Gage’s hands. It was a scalpel, one from the pack she had pulled to treat him. He still sat very quietly, but his eye was now looking at her stomach, watching the scalpel as it nudged her right above her belt. It was a very small area, less than an inch, that was between her chest plate and her belt. Turns out, it was big enough to be a gateway to her guts.

 

 Gage finally looked up at her and they watched each other, not moving. Nora broke the silence. “It wouldn’t kill me, Gage. Curie is right next to you,” both of them glazed over to the shocked and paralyzed robot. “She’s got a stimpack in claw. You have three guns aimed at your head. Even if you tried putting all of your weight into stabbing me, you’d be dead in flash.” Gage held her eyes for a moment longer, before looking back down at the scalpel. He was pondering if it would be worth it. Nora, slowly as possible, moved her arm to move over the top of his shoulders. Her fingers gently touched the back of his neck, making him look up at her again. They stared longer, and Nora let some of the guilt she felt reflect on her face. Gage’s didn’t change.

 

“I am sorry, Gage. I never meant to make you trust me like you did.” A twitch- well two- from Gage’s eye and the scalpel nicked her suit. A few more moments, and Gage decided it wasn’t worth having his head blown off. He flicked the scalpel to have the blade point at his own palms and offered it up. Nora removed her fingers from his neck and took it, handing it over to Curie quickly. “You know I have to take away dinner from you tonight?” Nora watched as Gage’s eye just closed and he settled himself. Nora sighed mentally and stood back from the older raider.

 

“That was a bit close for comfort,” Deacon mused from her right. He had a pistol in his right hand, aiming it at Gage, and an extra pair of sunglasses in his left. Nora didn’t comment as she took the glasses and handed them to Gage. He quickly affixed them to his face and became stone again.

 

Nora sighed and removed herself from Gage, waving over two Minutemen, just as Preston arrived with the Major. Nora quickly saw red as the woman looked at Gage with smugness. Nora snapped her hand out and grabbed the woman by her scarf, dragging her close and glaring down at the shorter woman. “What. part. of take  _care_. of the prisoners did you not understand?” Nora lowered her voice, watching as the woman’s shock quickly moved to fear.

 

“They… they were fed and watered, ma’am. As per schedule.”

 

“Prisoners’ care includes medical care,  _Major_. Bathes, fresh clothes, everything a god damn human needs. You fucked this up, Major. This man could have gotten a systemic infection from a one-inch cut.” Nora shoved the woman and stood over her. The woman, thanks to training, didn’t cower completely and looked her in the eye. “Outside of combat, you are on latrine duty for a week. Report back to Frank that he needs a second Major to care for the Raiders. Move,” Nora raised her brow as the Major saluted and ran off. Looking at the guards, Nora ordered them to take Gage back to the shade. No dinner, but to have Curie check on him every 6 hours. She then fished out her pack of smokes again and turned to Mason, who was  _fucking_  huge and standing next to her. Flipping a new one up, she caught the Raider’s eye. “Do we have a deal, Mason?”

 

Mason smiled and crossed his legs at the ankles before rolling his shoulders back. “We got a deal, boss.” Nora nodded and moved the fresh stick to his mouth level, and he took it. Looking back to Deacon, he nodded and moved over to cut Mason’s rope off while Nora fished out a handcuff key. Mason sighed in relief as his wrists came free, rubbing the skin like it itched. “How good are you with a bat, Mason?” Nora posed, watching as the Raider’s face lit up and he looked down at her.

 

“I am damn good with a bat, boss.”  Nora nodded and put the smokes back while flicking out her lighter.

 

 

“Gentlemen, and Deacon,” to which she got a ‘hey, come on,’ “escort Mason to the armor wagon. Not sure what we have that will fit him but get him covered. Deacon, Mason,” Mason actually stood straight for a split second before making a show of relaxing, “I’ll be over there in five minutes, armed. We head out in 10.” Nora turned on her heel and walked over to the wagon she had been riding in for a week. Digging through her packs, and  _packs_ , of weapons, Nora pulled out her silenced 10 mm and her explosive rounds 10 mm. The silenced pistol was snapped over her left hip, and the explosive one on her right. Lord, the number of times she fucked up because she put them in the wrong sleeves. She also dug out her favorite level action rifle with scope and two baseball bats. She smiled as she looked at Cito’s Shiny Slugger, hoping the Ape man was doing well with all the new people in Nuka World. She slipped Cito’s into the loop on her lower back and took the barb wire wrapped one for Mason. All armed and ready, Nora pulled her shoulder length trusses to the top of her head and used one of her large stores of hair ties to keep it up.

 

Cait joined her with a grin, reaching for the bat until Nora held it over her head. “Not for you, grab the one with the saw blades.” Cait rolled her eyes and jumped up on the side of the wagon. Nora snickered to herself softly; her best girlfriend was so short she had to jump to clear a railing. “I can hear ya, ya know,” Cait growled back at her and Nora just snorted. Flipping the bat over- and not grabbing the wires- she poked the Irish woman in the rump, watching her spaz out and glare at the General. Nora beamed and walked away, whistling a happy tune as she moved off to join Deacon, Mason and Dogmeat.

 

Looking over the Raider boss, Nora once again questioned how in the hell this guy didn’t become Overboss himself? He could easily have snapped Mags or Nisha in half. It was now decked out in some Diamond City gear, including a chest plate and leather joint covers. Each was tight against him and to top it off, he had found someone’s store of pre-war eye shadow and had given his right cheek a few stripes. Nora sighed and handed over the bat to the man. “You made sure he put the makeup back where he got it, Dee?”

 

“Nah, he’s still got it in his back pocket. Next to the lipstick and pantyhose,” Deacon’s eyebrows wiggled from behind the sunglasses. Mason snarled, and his hand clenched around the bat’s handle.

 

“Ah, a few rules, Mason,” Nora snapped her fingers and got the behemoth’s attention again. He scowled down at her. “You take orders from everyone else. If you see Dogmeat crotch, you better get down. Basics are ‘Hold’ means you freeze and don’t even twitch. ‘Go wide’ means go along the far side or wall and try to circle whoever we are up against. You return to our sides once the threat is taken care of. ‘Cover’ or ‘Down’ means exactly that, but you need to throw an arm around your neck. I am not chancing your head coming off because someone popped a shot at you.”

 

Mason sneered and leaned down till he was nose to nose with her. “Damn, boss, sounds like you give two shits about a raider. How cute,” and Nora had to control herself from backhanding the man. He was not directly threatening her, and she needed to uphold her own rules.

 

“I care about people in general, Mason. You have been doing your time. Oh, but remember,” Nora reached up and tapped the red blinking light at the center of the collar. “Don’t get any stupid ideas. I have your remote, and I can just as easily pop one through your eyes. I think proper introductions are in order. This is Deacon; this is probably the only time you’ll see him. He is a grade A spy, assassin and general overall asshole.” Nora beamed as Deacon did an over the top bow. “That’s Dogmeat; don’t touch him.” Nora said with a stone face and Dogmeat bore his teeth slightly. “And over here is the tiny, but amazing Cait. Longest running champion of the Combat Zone.” Cait grinned and settled her bat over her left shoulder, canting her head at Mason.

 

“I think I’ve seen this one ’fore, boss. He and a pack of idiots came abo’t 3 months ’fore you woke up. He and a few of the mutts got wasted and tried to string me up.” Mason was finally really looking at Cait, and wouldn’t you know it? He took a step  _back_.

 

“I take it you messed him up good?” Nora hmed with delight for extra effect. Cait grinned and swung out the bat to her left with lightning speed. “Sure as shit, I did. There he was in the cage, howlin’ over a broken nose. I kicked him straight in the arse until he crawled off the stage.” Nora beamed and high fived her champion as Mason scowled, looking positively murderous.

 

“Well, ladies, if we are done bruising egos, shall we?” Deacon beamed as he stepped aside and waved the two ladies through. Nora rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue to Dogmeat. “Check the entrance, boy. Give us two whines if it’s clear.” Dogmeat barked a quick confirmation and blazed off.

 

The area around the Vault was nearly clear of any cover, but the entrance to the Vault was completely covered in rocks. The smell was awful, but not unexpected. Raider loved their gore as much as super mutants. Nora watched as Dogmeat slinked down into the rocks slowly. She heard the muted scratching of claws on a door before two whimpers called out. “Such a good dog,” Nora praised loud enough, apparently, because a very happy tail started to wag, just in her line of sight. “Deacon,” Nora turned and rolled her, eyes. And gone like the wind as usual.

 

 “God, I really wish he’d warn us be’ore doin’ that,” Cait grumbled and Nora nodded as she led the way into the Vault.

 

“Same here, Kitty Cait.”

 

Mason growled.

 

Dogmeat ran his head under Nora’s palm for a quick pet before leading them down the tunnel to the Vault gate. True as Dee said, bodies were posed, and blood was everywhere. “Almost makes me wonder if some of the Disciples survived.” 

 

Mason grunted and pulled one of the bodies off of its spike, one handed, of course. “Nah, no slashes of the chest. Nisha’s crew liked ‘em bleedin’ for a long time before killin’ ‘em.”

 

“And yet another reason why I question everyone in the Waste’s sanity. You know, I never even thought about this level of brutality 200 years ago. Now,” Nora sighed as she reached over to another body and closed its eyes, “it’s just too damn common.”

 

“Cause it’s fun. Take out those that are too weak to defend themselves. It’s just natural order,” Mason grinned, until Cait and Nora leveled him with a glare. Dogmeat snarled softly.

 

“Remember what you just said next time I have to shove a gun in your mouth. Natural order indeed.” Nora snapped as they finally crossed over the huge Vault door. Nora tapped the floor twice and listened, nodding as she the answering tap to her left. Looking at the sign above the door, looked like Deacon was claiming the ‘Sound testing’ part. Ahead of her was the Atrium, a good place for the Raiders to be collected, but her right were the living quarters. Nora looked between the two, chewing her lower lip, before making her decision. “Cait, Dogmeat, head right.”

 

“Boss…” Cait did that ‘are you sure you’re not doing something stupid’ tone so well. Even Dogmeat cocked his ear and looked behind her at the Raider.

 

“Hey, Hey. Cut the crap. Get,” Nora shooed the two, who both did one more look to Mason before slinking away.

 

“Why are givin’ me such a good chance to kill you?” Mason asked as he gripped the handle of his bat harshly. Nora grinned and made a show of tapping on her PipBoy. “The very second you turn hostile to me, or my crew, you turn red.” Mason looked confused as hell, so Nora elaborated… in song.

 

_The commies come one, on the ground, son_

_The commies come all, we'll make them hit a wall_

_Pipboy on, over our brawn, from dusk to dawn_

_Red is dead, right through the head_

_Yellow is mellow and an easy going fellow_

_Pipboy on, with our song, we march on_

 

It was a short, nonsense jingle that played on the radio and TV when the PipBoy was first being announced. Nora, who had a long list of useless songs floating in her head, sang it in a gentle alto. Mason was stunned and confused still, but mostly stunned. Nora smirked to herself; even her own crew didn’t hear her sing much. “Basically, Mason, with this thing, I can see the moment you turn outright hostile to me. I slip into my VATS, or Vault-Tech Assisted Targeting System, and it’s like inhaling Jet. Time slows for me to the point I can literally pick out which of your body parts I want to shoot. I’m not worried.” Nora added an extra kick to her boot as she walked off, partially strutting her way through the archway.

 

Mason kept to her back the whole time, just like she ordered. Coming across a few trip wires and grenade bouquets, both commented on the old Nuka World gauntlet. Mason bemoaned the loss while Nora rolled her eyes at the absurdness of it. Taking out the trip wire was easy, but it amazed Nora how good Mason was at getting the grenades down without triggering any. Further along, they ran into their first pair of Raiders. Mason charged forward fast, slamming the taller one square in the head while Nora popped the other with her silent pistol. Holstering the pistol, Nora checked their bodies over. Couple of caps and plenty of cigs, but their weapons-a knife and a hatchet- weren’t worth trying to save and trade.

 

“Know somethin’,  _General_ ,” Oh, great! The Raider was getting cocky. “For someone who’s preachin’ about ‘give everyone a chance’, you sure are quick to put one between their eyes.” Mason grinned down at her, making a sweeping motion with his hand to the bodies.

 

Nora pinched her nose and scrunched her eyes. “They were literally carrying a severed head and talking about pulling its eyes out. That…” Nora wasn’t even going to complete that argument as she turned her face to his and stiffened as he was leaning  _way_  too close to her. It took some nerve to not automatically take a step back, but then he put his hand on her shoulder and nudged her. One step back had her against the wall, and Mason continued to lord over her. He reached up and traced the right side her neck with his first two fingers. He was playing with her; wanting her to blow. “Your neck sure is thin, Boss.” His other hand rested on the wall while his arm came up to be level with her waist, letting him lean over her. The fingers walked their way up and down her neck, “Think you should be worried about me now?”

 

Nora smirked and moved her right arm up and over the behemoth’s neck, pulling him down even more, much to  _his_  surprise. She made sure to lay it whole on his bomb collar as she spoke, “Of course, I am worried about you Mason. You have absolutely  _no_  idea how to watch your 6,” And with that, Nora trapped the man’s neck in her grip and dropped her full body weight to the floor. She snapped into VATS and reached with her left hand for her pistol as she watched the enemy from behind Mason. Dumb idiot hadn’t even heard the Raider with a machete coming up behind him. In slow time, she targeted the weapon first, then the Raider’s open chest. As she landed hard on her back and side, thanks to Mason’s weight, she kept the ex-Raider’s face tight into her shoulder and arm around his neck as a caution. The Cap Raider was gushing blood all over Mason’s back before the body collapsed to its left.

 

Sighing with pity, Nora contoured her legs underneath the heavy man and kicked him off hard. Mason groaned and clutched his stomach as he took in the sight of the raider. Nora stood up and made a very childish motion of patting Mason on the head. “There, see, this is why watching your 6 is important. Okey doke?” Nora walked off further in ignoring Mason’s snarls.

 

Nora’s blood froze as she heard a stream of swearing and shouts coming from further inside the atrium. Ignoring her desire to belittle Mason more, she grabbed the man by his tank top and leathers and hauled him up. Just then, the click of nail on metal sounds next to her, and Dogmeat, nudged her side. His ears were down, one paw was up in the air, and a sad whimper fell from his lips. “They got Cait?” Dogmeat whined once more and started hopping down the hall. Nora listened in more, feeling a vicious snarl bubble up from her chest as she heard their plans. Nora tapped her fingers to her chin, trying to think of the best way to get Cait out of this mess… and decided to just make a bigger one. “Remember, Mason, follow my orders.” Nora snapped behind her as she drew breath and shouted, “Hey! You potbellied Deathclaw-dick tasters!! You got a couple others to worry about!”

 

New shouts, most of them along the lines of ‘Get Them!’ followed. “The fuck you do-” Nora growled and turned to pin him with her ‘don’t fucking test me’ stare.

 

“Put your hands on the back of your neck, Mason, and don’t take them off until I tell you.” Mason moved to argue, just as five Raiders sounded to be heading their way. His hands went up and he locked his fingers together over the back of the collar. “Play dead, boy.” Nora commanded, and Dogmeat quickly hide himself next to the dead Raiders, playing dead himself.

 

“Well, well. Lookee what we got ‘ere,” came a disgusting voice from behind Mason. Nora didn’t move to look, but her Pipboy’s holoscreen told her two of the Raiders were already behind Mason and three were coming up to her front. The three turned out to be absolutely covered in blood, fresh and old, and two had dismembered body parts on their belts. The shortest, a female actually squealed in delight as she looked over the two of them.

 

“Oh, I want the big one, Mikey. I want his head on my wall.” The woman was nearly tap dancing with joy.

 

Nora heard Mason inhale, likely to make a snappy retort, but she took that chance from him. “I hear you got our little friend in there. You already got my dog,” Nora nodded to the ‘dead’ Dogmeat next to the bodies. “How about a trade? Me for the cute little cage fighter you’ve got?”

 

The center Raider, probably the leader and Mikey, played with his switchblade on his fingers. He walked up to her slowly before tapping the knife to her collar. Nora kept her hands still at her sides, moving her eyes to watch the woman. A mild show of submission; just to keep these murderers interested.

 

“Sear, you sure you want the big one? This gal’s damn cute, too. Needs a bit more blood on her, though,” Mikey twisted his gripped, trying to dig the tip of the blade into her Vault suit. Thank god for ballistic weave; who knew what was on that knife? Mikey was not happy about it. Dropping the knife to his left hand, he wound up his right and backhanded her cheek for all it was worth. It stung, but she could have withstood it. She needed to act though, and she slumped down on her side, crying out in pain. The Raiders laughed in glee and Mickey grabbed hold of her and pulled her up, holding the knife to her neck. “You and the big guy don’t give us no shit, and we just  _might_  let your pretty lil cage fight go. Now, you two come along, nice and quiet like.” Mikey grabbed on to her mess of a ponytail and yanked her along. Why did they always go for the damn hair? Mason was being pushed along by the end of a pool cue and chipped ax.

 

Inside the atrium, Cait was being made to kneel in front of another one of them that seemed to have the only pistol. Her hands were on the back of her neck and the pistol was positioned at her crown. She looked roughed up; her eye was already turning purple and from her harsh breaths, Nora guessed some bruised ribs. Mickey and the other male raider that came with him put Nora and Mason against the far wall. Nora looked around the room, making notes of the debris and raiders. 7 in total. The 5 that came towards them, the one holding Cait, and his very high backup. In this position, Nora couldn’t flank anyone or get the Raider off Cait without some serious damage from one of them. Nora sighed and scratched the back of her neck, before using her foot to scratch at her ankle twice.

 

“So, let’s talk. As you can see, you’ve got my cage fighter. She makes me a shit ton of caps- well  _made_  me a shit ton before she got  _clean_  and sober.” Nora rolled her eyes at the idea, which made the Raiders sneer and jeer at Cait. “I can trade my slave over here for her,” Nora thumbed at Mason, who was glaring at her from the corner of his eye. “Good with his hands, but crap with his mouth, sad to say,” Nora smiled wickedly and turned her head back to the group, scratching at her ankle again.

 

Mickey and Sear grinned at the idea and began trading insults and foul ideas among the group when she felt it. A gentle breath of air, minty fresh she mentally smirked, blew on her cheek. She then felt the warm presence of a male’s body slowly move to press up against her own. Nora had to bite her tongue to resist laughing as the body pushed into her more. Define but wiry pectoral muscles rested on her own breasts and she felt a shoe slip in between her boots. The shoe slid deeper into her stance and a leg soon did the same. Soon the invisible body was so tightly pressed up against hers that she had to bite her tongue to not moan at the warmth. A pair of hands took a hold of her wrists and slowly moved them up. The thigh added just a bit more pressure to her mounds, and Nora couldn’t stop the small moan that left her throat. Cait stared in concern and all the Raiders were now watching her.

 

“What the fuck is the bitch doin?” asked the one with the pistol, grounding it harder into Cait’s head. As her hands were pushed up to be level with her shoulders, those invisible hands left her skin and instead curled slowly over the sides of her hips to go around her back.

 

 “Sorry, this is just one of the kinkiest situations I have been in for a while,” Nora hammed it up, looking through half lidded eyes and licking her lips slowly. She scuffed her heel against the wall twice before scratching her ankle again, and finally saw the light bulb go on in Cait’s eyes.

 

Those damn hands were still petting her sides, making her shiver slightly, but she felt the pattern. Rub on the left, wait a breath, rub on the right. “Oh, and you should disarm me. Besides the rifle and the bat, I have a silenced 10 mm on my left side and one that shoots explosive rounds on the right. Don’t get them mixed up; I damn near blew my foot off doing it.” The hand on her left side tapped again and she felt the pistol being lifted slowly from its rest. A peck on her lips was the final message and the weight was lifted from her front.

 

“Something ain’t right with her, boss,” said the high Raider. Geez, what was with addicts being so damn insightful?

 

Two pops later, and the Raider pinning down Cait slumped over dead, and hell broke loose. Nora dove to her left, grabbing Mason again and pushing him down tight to the floor. A woman’s battle cry, a snarl from a very pissed off dog and a few more muted shots sounded through the hell. Yanking her rifle from her back, Nora slammed once more into VATS. With Deacon taking invisible pop shots, the only Raider still fighting was the one that had the chipped ax. Nora quickly loaded two rounds into the bastard’s head and slipped out of her targeting system. 45 seconds for 7 Raiders; not bad.

 

“Now that was a show, eh boss? What was Deacon doin’ to ya?” Cait asked as she wiped off the blood from her knife on a dead Raider’s jacket. She slipped it into her shoulder straps as she kicked the body off her boot.

 

“Feeling me up for one, which, by the way, earns him another pop to the nose when that StealthBoy runs out!” Nora commented to the room.

 

“Great, new nose all for free. Just need to feel up the Professor. Hell, I’d do that even without the promise of a free nose,” commented a voice from the far-right doorway.

 

“Are we all clear now?” Nora asked as she got up and off Mason, who was staring owlishly between her, Cait and the open air. Finally giving up on making sense of them, he threw both middle fingers into the air and sat back again the wall. Nora grinned and tossed him her last 3 smokes and her lighter.

 

“The living quarters is clear. Nothin’ down there in terms of loot besides the beds and tons of lockers. Good to melt down to ammo, I think.” Cait remarked as she knelt down to check Dogmeat’s foot. Based on him taking full weight on it again, looks like a certain spy got to him before feeling her up.

 

“Sound lab has got some great looking old tech, but you’ll have to see. Maybe we can make a band together and take over the Radio.” The voice was closer, and Nora made a wide loop around it.

 

“I still think we can make a million caps getting Preston and Danse to sing something.” Nora commented as her hand just brushed cloth in the air and she grabbed it… only to feel it give way and she was now holding a dirty white T-Shirt. “You have to run out of power some time, Dee.”

 

“And that, my dear ladies and gent, is my cue to step outside and get our little Minutemen to come on in.” Nora didn’t even hear the echo of footsteps as Deacon’s voice walked out the door and started down the hall.

 

“Can I pop him in the chin, boss?” Cait asked hopefully.

 

“We’ll flip a cap for it.” Nora answered.

 

“Fuckin’ crazy ass,” Mason continued his muttering under his breath.

 

~~~~~~ Let’s just pretend that jingle makes sense, and lets also pretend I spent more than a few minutes in Vault 92 when I played the game.~~~~~~~


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There be smut in that there vault
> 
>  
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Relocating most of the Minutemen and settlers into the Vault was fairly easy. Nora made sure to destroy the little wooden door outside to get some air inside. Bodies were striped -worthy objects added to the stash of trade- and carried outside to be burned. Between the lot of them, and especially Codsworth for his damn miraculous cleaning nature, the Vault was a lot less bloody and the air was actually half breathable.

 

Dee hadn’t become visible yet. Yet again, Nora regretted finding that Stealth Boy recharger, and not just because she damn near drowned when she had. She charged Hancock and Mac with grabbing him and towing him to her when he did become visible. Neither man questioned why she wanted to pop him so bad, and Hancock was nearly gleeful at the chance.

 

Nora took Danse, Preston and Mac down into the sound lab. Most of the tech was beyond her, but she did find three new mini coms. Like the one Mac now carried, they could pick up the radio, dimly, and if synced with her PipBoy, they could be used as a walkie talkie network. She gave them to Danse to have him fine tune the buggers as she walked into the recording studio. She tapped the mics, but heard nothing, making her pout… until she saw that big, beautiful safe on the wall. ‘Why, hello, precious. What goodies do you have?’

 

After about 5 minutes and _way too goddamn many broken bobbie pins!_ Nora opened the safe. She felt her heart stop for a beat before it began to pound. She squealed- 33 years old, mother, Army/civilian relationships lawyer, ‘Holy Terror of the ‘Wealth’- literally squealed in delight. Inside the safe were at 7 holotape records, some even had her favorite songs on them. Hugging them to her chest, she arched up on to just the toes of her right foot and spun, licking her leg back in the twirl. She stopped and felt her face heat up to ungodly hot as Danse, Preston and Mac all looked at her like she had gone nuts. Clearing her throat, Nora walked back out of the sound room to the recording station and laid the tapes on the desk. “You guys know how I keep saying that there was _more_ music than just what Travis plays? Here are a few examples. I’ll get these recorded to my PipBoy and show you guys some real tunes.” Nora made them into a neater stake before putting them in her carry bag. “Then I am going to keep them in my safe in Sactuary.”

 

“Your hoarding tendencies are going to make it difficult to get back to the Common Wealth unburdened, at this rate.” Danse grumbled as he clicked on the second mini com, listening to it buzz and smiled softly when it tuned into the Cap’s radio station.

 

“You get rid of some of those laser pistol modifications and then you can talk to me about hoarding, HM?” Nora pulled her eyebrow up at the soldier. Danse cleared his throat and made sure not to look up at her. Embarrassed Danse was truly adorable. Picking up the two working mini coms, she passed one to Preston. Oh dear, did she happen to hold his hand just a touch too long? The darkening of his cheeks told her she had. Nora was glad Mac was already heading up the stairs and Danse was tunnel visioned. Catching Preston’s eye again, she winked, turned, and made sure to sway her hips just a touch extra. A soft smack of leather glove to face had her grinning wide.

 

Back up to the floor, most of everyone was set up in the atrium. Some room assignments were made while she was gone. Most of her crew would be on the top floor of the Atrium while she was given the Overseer’s quarters. Mostly because no one had been able to get in yet. Strong had drug in some old tires and pieces from the door Nora broke and was already resting comfortably,- and full- in one of the reactor rooms. Mason, after receiving a once over, a fresh pack of smokes and few matches, was moved into a locked room with the other ex-raiders. Curie and Minutemen had checked all of them over. Mags had her hands handcuffed behind her back now. She had had a tiny shiv in the lining of her bra and now was up to 11 years hard labor. William was gagged, but at least he had behaved well enough to keep his hands out in front of him. Gage was stone faced as ever and Mason, freshly rebond, was now down 3 more months. Course, he was much happier lording his free smokes over the rest of them.

 

Hancock, bless his ghoul heart, had a prize waiting for her when she came back. He was literally sitting on Deacon, who was trussed up like a turkey. Nora beamed and kissed the Mayor on his temple, feeling the ruined skin heat up. Not that it wasn’t always quite a bit warmer than her own. She handed him the second mini com, but before he asked questions, she grabbed the spy and drug him away to a quieter corner.

 

Setting Deacon in a mostly upright seated position, Nora first removed the Stealth Boy and charger from his wrist and looked it over. The charger itself was down to a quarter power. “You move, you are getting two beatings,” Nora said as she stood up. “Kinky situation after kinky situation, huh Prof?” Deacon lowered his voice, trying to pull a slow, gravel rumble that made Nora shiver. He was the first one to tease her about her obsession with voices, and god, did he do it often. She looked at him with an arched brow, and kicked him at the bottom of his shoe before heading back to Hancock.

 

“Hancock, sweetie, I have another favor.” Nora passed over the charger before walking over to their bags. Nope, not that one… or that one… AHA! Pulling out her ‘tiny scraps’ bag, she searched around inside. Behind a large box of different length screws, Nora found her small, leaded pipe of nuclear material. Setting the bag back into their pile, Nora handed the pipe to Hancock who nodded. “Course, now is the time I say, ‘Got you, princess’ and you say ‘Oh, Hancock, I could kiss you’ and then you walk away without even a thank you. Breaks an old ghoul’s heart to be working for such a tease.” Hancock moved to stand; needing to be outside the vault to mess with fresh radiation. Course, Nora caught him by the lapel and moved her other hand to the back of his scarred neck. Hancock smirked, letting himself be gently manhandled into a face to face position. She smirked back and leaned in, and just as Hancock was closing his eyes to receive the kiss, she took his tricorn off his head and smushed it into his face. He snarled as he pulled it off of his face and was about to snap when Nora pulled him in for another small kiss to his temple. “You just don’t fight fair, princess.”

 

Nora grinned and winked. “Maybe if you weren’t so damn easy to flirt with, Hancock,” Nora let her hands fall from him, stretching out his name and adding extra power to the ‘cock’ part. The ghoul rolled his eyes up like he was praying for a divine miracle as Nora strutted off. “I mean, good lord, you _do_ have half the Common Wealth lapping at your feet. Someone’s got to hold out on you.” Nora looked over her shoulder, cocking her hip with her hand against it, before bringing that hand up to blow him a kiss. Hancock muttered something like ‘Going to turn feral on this woman’ as Nora finally headed back to Deacon.

 

Nora quickly noticed that Deacon’s hands and ankles were now free and he was swinging the handcuffs on his fingers. “Still need to learn that trick, Dee.” Nora stood over her spy and took the handcuffs and clicked them onto a strap of her holster. “Up, please. Let’s get this beat down over with.” Deacon hopped up quickly; very flexible and mobile for a man about 6 years her senior. He popped his neck and then pushed his back against a wall. Pulling the most pitiful, whiny voice, and turning his face to the side, his hands went up to his shoulders, he said, “Please, ma’am. I’ll be a good boy and eat my tatos.”

 

Nora would have smacked herself in the face for the sheer… hell, she couldn’t even think of the proper word. Instead, she reached forward and pushed his sunglasses up into his hair. He blinked his dark blue eyes open and turned to face her. Nora’s smile turned into a leer as she stepped forward. Just as he had done before, she slowly pressed more and more of her weight into him. Her boot slipped in-between his shoes and kept sliding in, until her thigh connected with the seam of his crotch. Her breasts were snug against his chest and she felt his heart rate spike, but his face showed nothing. Nora’s hands came up and she used her fingers to walk up his sides, feeling the muscles jump and twitch just a little, but still no change to his face. It still floored her how good he was at what he did. Craning her neck just slightly to reach him, she placed a peck of a kiss to his lips before leaning back… and popping him in the nose just like before. Dee swore loudly and bent over at the waist, but Nora knew most of it was an act. “Dee, do a lady a favor. Next time you feel like teasing, finish the damn job.” Nora grinned and walked off, leaving her spy to flip his glasses back down and smile.

 

Life with Deacon had never been easy. Hell, it started off so bad…

 

_Stepping through a small archway, and being blinded with a few spotlights did not warm Nora’s battered and bruised heart, as a voice rang out through the light._

 

“Stop right there,” Nora blinked as she tried to take in the three figures better, moving her arm up to shield from some of the light. A grunt from the man behind her told her he didn’t appreciate the lights either. “You went through a lot of effort to arrange this meeting. But before we continue, answer me one thing: Who the hell are you?”

 

“An annoyed housewife with a law degree and a missile launcher who doesn’t like having a minigun and pistol pointed at her? Especially after she has traipsed through most of the Common Wealth and even the Glowing Sea to find the only people who do anything to help those who escape the Institute. Now kindly put the guns down or-“

 

“You have some nerve threatening us, in our home. Just who the hell are you?” The one in the middle, 40-ish red haired woman, was talking. Nora would have felt a sense of kindred spirit with the woman for the ‘take charge’ attitude if she wasn’t 36 hours without sleep and starving. She was so hitting Goodneighbor up after this.

 

“I am the General of the goddamn Minutemen who are bringing back order to this damn waste. I’m a fucking Knight to the Paladin Danse and his ‘stick up their asses’ Brotherhood. I nuke Behemoth super mutants for breakfast and eat Mireluck queens for lunch. I just finished up some synth called a courser with a stupid ass axe after it ran me out of ammo. I still have Rads from going to the Glowing Sea and I. am. _tired._ I woke up after 210 years in Cyro sleep to find the world I knew destroyed. I have been running my ass off for nearly 4 solid months now, trying to find my kidnapped son. I am _done_ with taking shit from _anyone,_ lady. Are you happy now?” Nora cocked her hip out as she moved her hands up to take off her General’s hat. Fitting it in her teeth, she tried to retie her hair, watching the different expressions play off the peoples’ faces… then noticing a fourth had joined them.

 

“She also killed Railroad enemy number one. One Conrad Kellogg. Rescued Diamond City number one Synth, Mr. Nick Valentine, Private Eye. She’s in damn good with the Mayor of Goodneighbor and she’s got a mouth like you wouldn’t believe. What she just did? Not even close to the tongue lashing she gave some raiders who tried to mess with the Slog.” The fourth looked to be an early 30s man. Average build, average height. Nothing to remember about his gently sun-kissed pale skin or the 5 o’clock shadow… or was that dirt? However, Nora’s brain set off some major alarm bells as she looked at him. She’d seen him… somewhere…

 

Nora snapped her fingers, calling out an ‘AHA’, making everyone tense. “You were that guy in the Memory Den when Nick and I first came in with Kellogg’s brain.” The guy with the pistol looked positively sick there for a moment. “Looked like a bald farmer at the time. Saw you around Goodneighbor a few times after that too… can’t say if I like you better with or without the wig, but the plain white T is a good look.” Nora squared her hat back on her head and crossed her ankles and pulled a hand up to lean her chin on it. “So, Ms. Railroad, do I appease you now? You’ve got one of your own telling you I am not a threat. I have the chip from the courser with me. I was told you have a small in with the Institute. I need to get in there. I need to get my son back. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. What does the Railroad want?”

 

The woman was truly flabbergasted, but it was quickly hidden away. The wig man slipped back behind the one with the minigun and continued to watch. Clearing her throat to get Nora’s attention off the wig, she said, “We, the Railroad, fight to free Synths from the Institute. Before we go any further, I need to know where you stand. Would you risk your life for your fellow man, even if that man was a Synth?”

 

Nora stared, blinking slowly at this woman and her question. After a few moments, she scrubbed her face with her leather glove in the sheer stupidity of the question in the face of the obvious evidence. Face still covered, she turned around and leaned herself into the body of one Nick Valentine, who was accompanying her this time. Nick was a prototype Synth; somewhere between the mindless Gen 2s and the clone like ones of Gen 3. He had, implanted in his head, memories of the flesh and blood Nicolas P. Valentine of her time. She leaned into his ruined neck and gripped his old Detective style trench coat with her hands. She listened to his inner workings click and churn and could feel his yellow optics on her under that old fedora. Nora let out a frustrated whine into the fiberglass casing of his shoulder as his right hand came up and patted her lower back. The metal fingers stayed there as she felt the old Synth’s faux-skin cheek rest against her temple.

 

“She’s just being cautious, doll. Don’t hold it against her,” Nick promised in that thick, noir accent that made Nora shiver. Add in the fact that Nora was exhausted and those metal fingers were rubbing small, comforting circles into her lower back, and Nora was barely able to repress her long held question of how literal Nick’s ‘all the parts, minus a few red blood cells’ statement was.

 

 Nick lifted his head from hers and addressed the people directly. “Trust me, Dez, you couldn’t find a more open-minded person in the whole Common Wealth. She’s friends with people, Ghouls and Synths alike.” Nora tensed at that and swatted Nick’s shoulder as she stood back, watching his optics widen and narrow briefly. “There is no difference to me, Nick. You’re just as human as I am, as far as I am considered.” Nora gritted her teeth and fixed up the trench coat and tie of the man before turning back to face the others. Mr. Wig was grinning over at the red-haired woman, likely Dez.

 

“And you are vouchering for her too, Deacon? She did say she was with the Brotherhood, too.” Oh, Deacon for Mr. Wig.

 

“Yes, ma’am. She helped them out of a jam, but from what I’ve heard, she’s trying to passive aggressive her way into Elder boy’s ear. Trying to get him to tone down the hate. Seriously, Dez, we need friends. We need her. She doesn’t let bigotry in her settlements… well, nothing out loud or you get put on latrine duty.”

 

“Actually, you must be out of the loop, Deacon. Got flushable toilets going now.” Nora smiled as she leaned her back into Nick, trying her best to swallow a large yawn. Deacon’s eyebrows climbed and he whistled low.

 

“Then Welcome to the Railroad, General. You’ll need a code name. I am Desdemona. This is Glory,” the dark skinned minigun welder nodded, “Drummer Boy,” the still slightly green laser pistol welder nodded. “And Deacon.” Deacon held up two fingers and made a click sound with his tongue. Nora snorted and whined. Ok, nose was still tender from the bat to the face. Good to know.

 

Nora tilted her head, trying to think of a ‘code’ name, but the only thing coming to her mind were ‘lawyer’, ‘teacher’ and ‘Synth fucker’… she was so glad Vadim hadn’t kicked her out for starting that bar fight. “Lovely. Look, I am really, really tired, and I can’t think in ‘code’. I am pretty sure I can make it to Goodneighbor before passing out, and I know there is a good fifth of whiskey with my name on it there. If it’s all the same, and if Nick is agreeable,” Nora looked behind her to Nick’s pulled up eyebrows, “I’ll leave the chip here with him for the time being. I’ll be back in 24-36 hours, tops. You have any dangerous, highly lethal jobs you need done, make a list for me. I’ll run them as payment for your help. Nick?” Nora turned back around to face her friend who smiled down at her. “Sounds good to me, doll. Just make sure you behave yourself in Goodneighbor. Don’t need to be hearing anymore about some vigilante getting shot up while taking out a chems dealer.”

 

Nora scowled at the man, and flicked his hat up and almost off his head. “Yeah, yeah like you wouldn’t have locked his ass up for dealing to kids. Pull the other one, Nicky,” Nora scoffed, but the two smiled at each other as Nora tip toed up to give his cheek a good-bye kiss. “Stay safe, Nick.”

 

“Always do,” Nick took the offered chip and stepped around her to follow the Railroad members. It wasn’t until Nora was heading out the way she came that she felt him behind her. Looking back, Nora cocked her eyebrow at Deacon, who grinned. “Well, if Valentine’s not going to be watching your back, I will. And your front, and those long legs that go really great in that Vault suit.” Deacon made a show of undressing her with his shades on. Nora’s face was blank as she turned around and looked at the man, before reaching out for those shades. He dodged well and even slipped behind her. “Ah, ah, ahhhh. Sorry there General, but no one can know my true identity. See, I’m an escaped Synth. One of the first ones; and the Institute really wants me back.” As Nora turned to face him, he was behind her again. “So, let’s keep my little spying missions a secret, ok?”

 

Nora sighed and slammed her head backwards, clipping his nose, grinning at the hiss of pain. Turning her head, as winked at the man, before walking off. “Let’s go, Mr. Spy. I’m tired and your injured. Let’s go enjoy some mischief.

 

 _Oh, and if I_ do _pass out, you are carrying me to Hancock.”_

_Laser fire surrounded them as Nora dove for cover, hearing but not seeing her companions do the same_.

 

“You just _had_ to shoot the turret, didn’t you, kid?” Deacon yelled out from somewhere on her right as Nora desperately searched her pack for one last pulse grenade or mine.

 

“Well, someone was taking their sweet a- sweet time with disarming it, weren’t they?” Mac called out from further to the right as Nora looped her finger through the pin of a normal frag grenade and looked over the flipped table she was behind. Three Synths, all Gen 2s. It should have been easy to take care of, if her two companions were busy whining like 5-year-olds. Pulling the pin, she lopped it behind the three of them and called out ‘Cover!’ before ducking down again and covering her ears. The boom shook the building and Nora swore liberally as tiny pieces of metal caught the edge of her ear and finger.

 

“Hit! Minor, keep going,” she called out as she pulled a fresh round into her bolt rifle and stood up. As she slammed into VATS, she was never happier to be working with the Minutemen than right now. Her ballistic weave General’s uniform and extra thick leaded breast plate saved her from one of the wounded Synth’s point-blank shot to her chest and guts. She had to put three rounds in his head, and could only get one into the last Synth’s knee before VATS collapsed and so did Nora. The impact of the laser was spread over her breastplate, but she was still winded, gasping through the pain.

 

Sudden movement to her left and Nora couldn’t even gasp in surprise as the Synth lined up a shot with her head. Just as suddenly, her back was on the ground, her head pulled into a chest covered by a white T and hands covered the back of her head and neck. A loud bang, from a highly modified assault rifle, sounded and the Synth crumbled to the floor.

 

Nora, still gasping from the pain, looked up at Deacon’s worried face as he pulled her head from his chest and set her down on the floor completely. “Easy, Prof. Let’s get this stuff off. Hey kid, search the area again. Don’t need any more of them popping up with boss out of commission,” Nora did her best to swat him in-between her gasps. Out of commission, her ass. “Yup, still feisty, aren’t you Prof?” Deacon’s fingers made very quick work General’s coat, then of the straps of her breastplate, holster and was just starting on her Vault suit’s zipper when she popped him on the nose. Covering it, Deacon actually growled down at her. “What is with you and my nose? Now’s not a time for modesty, Nora. Let me see,” Deacon pushed her hands back down onto the floor and started on the zipper. Nora, gritted her teeth against the pain as Deacon opened the suit just enough to walk his fingers over her skin. He pushed and poked a few places, before running his finger against a snapped rib. Nora hissed with the limited air she had and tried to buck the spy off of her, but he just worked his fingers in more. He somehow got his pinky under the broken rib, popped it up into place -God, Nora wanted to scream, but settled for strained whimpers- and pulled out a stimpack from his back pocket. He opened her suit a bit more and pushed the needle right above the broken bone. As the rib healed, Nora finally got another air in her lungs to call Deacon every name under the sun. Mac came back, somewhere around ‘cock muncher’ and ‘mutant shit’, his face bright red and eyes wide at her slew of words. Deacon was agreeing with a few of them, complimenting her on some of the others as he removed the needle and checked her ribs again. He then zipped her up and was calm as could be. Nora would never have guessed that Deacon would be the first to reach into her vault suit.

 

_“Love you too, Prof,” Deacon grinned and kissed her forehead, dodging her second try to pop him one._

 

 

Nora sighed and rubbed her face at the memories. Clearing her head, she checked in on Strong. The poor mutant was bored; two raiders had tried to run into the vault to help. Strong had run after both of them, but Mac had gotten one. Strong had smashed the second one, but it had been too easy. Nora comforted the mutant as she did some minor patch work on his teddy bear. There was a place called Old Olney very nearby that used to have a Deathclaw problem. She would take him and a few others over there tomorrow to take care of any that were left over. The rest of the Minutemen and traders would start dismantling and scraping everything they could in the Vault. Chewing the thread free of the needle and giving the bear back to Strong, she adjusted his blanket and closed the doors as she left.

 

Danse was back up in the main room, along with Deacon and a slightly more energized Hancock, who was trying to whistle. Having a rather dry mouth made that rather difficult, but she just grinned. “You ate one of the pieces, didn’t you Mayor? I only had 4 of those little pieces left.” Nora sat down between Cait and Danse and thanked Cait for a plate of dinner. Hancock grinned wider and leaned back into a wall. “Call it payment for being a tease, princess.” Nora rolled her eyes. “Great, so just when are you actually going to get some sleep?” Hancock raises his eyebrows, “Why, princess, I got plenty of sleep last night. Only thing that woke me up was,” Nora tensed, “your stumbling for the bathroom.” A cackle sounded as he pushed his tricorn over his eyes and fished for a cigarette.

 

Nora chewed her inner lip. Right, got to warn Preston about that smug ass ghoul. “Preston, after dinner, could you help me get the Overseer’s office open?” _Ignore Hancock’s smug face, ignore Hancock’s smug face… on second thought, punch Hancock’s smug face, “_ Of course, General.” Nora sighed internally, thanking Preston calm tone. Dinner was uneventful otherwise. Mac showed Preston and Handcock how to work their new mini coms while Nora showed Danse his. She quickly linked the three new ones with her Pipboy, and like children, the boys set off for different parts of the Vault to test them. After the third ‘Can you still hear me?’ Nora cut the direct audio to her wrist, grabbed her clothes and night bag, and went up to the office.

 

Turns out, Preston was already there and trying to turn off his mini com to stop listening to Hancock and Mac play tag. Nora reached for the tiny com and switched it off with ease. Turning back to the office door, Nora popped the control panel open and pulled two wires, watching as the door slid open. Hm, looks like Nick’s trick worked on most Vault doors. Nora stood up again, grinning victory at Preston. The grin turned into a small gasp and blush as she caught Preston’s face darkening and he moved quickly to be in front of her.

 

“That wasn’t very sneaky of you, General.” He lowered his voice and used her earlier technique of looking at her through his lashes. His hands rested on either side of her head and he leaned in. Nora bit her lower lip and squirmed a little. Damn, she was definitely liking this side of Preston, too. She could just feel his breath against her face and as he leaned in, some of his weight against her own body. “I think Hancock and Deacon are a little suspicious of you.” He closed the distance and rested his nose and forehead against her, nuzzling her.

 

“Well, Hancock’s more than just suspicious. He knows,” Nora admitted, pouting a little as Preston pulled back in surprise. “Oh great,” Preston’s shoulders slumped and he leaned his head down onto her shoulder instead. “I know what you mean. Nothing like getting teased by the ‘Wealth biggest playboy.” Nora grinned and leaned her cheek onto Preston’s, feeling his smile, too.

 

With a sigh, and a quick kiss to her neck, Preston moved back and tap the brim of his hat. “Good night, General,” and Nora growled as she thumped her head against the wall as he left. Damn it, Preston looked like he was about to go wild on her and she had to miss out because of John. All the more reason to slap him with his hat in the morning. Sighing and trying to control the squirming that her legs were doing, she looked around the office, closing the door behind her. It was traditional overseer’s office connected to a bunk room. Nora quickly got out of her boots and unzipped her vault suit halfway, leaving on her bra for now. She tied the sleeves into a knot around her waist before dumping her bags onto the plushiest looking bed. She pulled her hair free of the pony tail, feeling it fall to the middle of her back before shaking it.

 

Back to the office, Nora looked through the drawers and bit and pieces. Nothing too interesting overall, except for the Vault wide speaker system which just happened to have a holotape player and recorder. She beamed, and quickly fished for her seven new holotapes. Only two were singles and Nora picked one and placed it in the machine. She then turns on the microphone and pulled on her inner Travis.

 

“Testing, test- Ah… Well, gooood evening, Minutemen and friends,” Nora could hear a certain ghoul’s cackle and several other people laughing already. “This is…oh shot, I need some kind of radio name,” a few names were being shouted outside, “Well, this is Holy Friggen Terror, coming to you live from the Vault 92 overseer’s office. I want to thank you all for your hard work getting to the Capital and want to thank you in advance for all the hard work that is to come. Now, I am going to broaden your tastes in music with this holotape I’ve found, before returning you to that classic crap you love. Hope you all enjoy.”

_They say we're young and we don't know_  
We won't find out until we grow  
Well I don't know if all that's true  
'Cause you got me, and baby I got you

 _Babe_  
I got you babe  
I got you babe

Nora turned the microphone off and spun and swayed to the tune, letting the old music soak into her slowly. By the middle of the song, she was holding her arms around a make-believe partner and running a simple box step with him. She really needed to teach the guys a few steps. Humming the final few notes of the song, Nora spun herself back to the speaker and plugged her PipBoy into it. Finding the Three Dog Guy’s station again, she kept it on a gentle volume for the rest of the evening. Sighing in a mix of contentment and frustration, and pushing away from the table, she said to the air, “Not quite the same as getting laid, but-“

 

“Oh, we can fix that,” Nora jumped at the voice right behind her, as an invisible hand clamped over her mouth and an arm wrapped around her waist. Nora shouted against the hand and reached up to pull at the invisible appendage, just as breath tickled the back of her neck. “Easy, Prof, just me,” Deacon’s grin pressed into the back of her neck, before turning into a few gentle kisses. Nora shivered as she felt those gentle kisses reached just below her hairline, making her eyes flutter. Of course, the s.o.b. would figure out one of her favorite weak points. Nora wondered just what the spy was up to; she had never really pegged him a ‘serious’ flirt, like John.

 

“Heard you grumbling about Ol’ Hancock muscling in on your private time with Garvey.” Nora’s face ignited in a blush and she pulled at the invisible hands holding her. Damn it, not Deacon too! Good Lord, neither one of them could keep their mouths shut. “Can’t blame you; good looking man. Bet he treats his ladies _real_ special,” Deacon lowered his tone, _right in her ear!,_ making her shiver hard. “Wouldn’t mind a piece of that myself,” She felt him grin against her again as he moved, giving her some very _very_ flush inducing imagines. The hand around her waist traveled down, until just the fingertips were rubbing along the groove of her hip. Those fingertips rubbed gently, massaging little circles into her flesh. “Though with how little that camper was actually shaking, I’m guessing he can be a little bland in his technique,” Nora snarled and moved to elbow the invisible man, stomping at his feet when she felt her arms pinned by his quickly moved arms. “Hey, hey. Not knocking the man. You two had to be quiet with all of us sleeping nearby, hm?” Deacon gave a solid nip to her upper neck, making Nora hiss first and then whine as he sucked on the tender spot. He let go and ‘num’-ed into her neck as he started kissing down her spine. More light nips and one really hard suck on top of a freckle she had in the dip of the right side of her jaw. Nora’s eyes couldn’t decide if they wanted to be open or closed as she moaned softly. Damn, who would have guessed?

 

“Deaconnnnn,” Nora warned, jumping slightly at his lowered ‘hm?’ right into her ear again. “We talked about this earlier.”

 

“If I am going to tease a lady, I need to finish the job. Oh,” Deacon’s teeth closed on her the top of her ear and pulled, his body moving backwards, taking her with him. “I plan on finishing what I started, Prof.” He moved out from behind her and Nora felt her back connect with the cold wall. He was just as suddenly pressed to her front, chest to chest and hands massaging her hips. “Course, if you are wanting Garvey, I can sneak him back in here.” Those hands crept around to give her ass a squeezing, making her squeak softly. She heard him growl and suddenly she was being pulled up to just on her toes as he squeezed and rolled her flesh. “Deacon!” Nora gasped. She never really pictured the spy as being actively sexual. Even when they talked about his late wife and their trying to have children, it never really hit her.

 

“Yes?” The spy was practically purring as he kneaded her back side though the suit, even adding a small pinch. Nora chewed her lower lip, and tried to look at where she suspected his eyes were. “I just never imagined you and I could be in his position. Didn’t think I was your type… wait, that came out wrong,” Nora now bite the inside of her cheek, until a pair of soft lips covered hers. It was… an amazingly soft, but though kiss. His lips pecked at first, testing her. His covered hers solidly, and Nora heard a small moan of pleasure before a tongue licked at the crease of her lips. Nora gasped as those fingers slipped down the back of her suit, snapping her panties through the blue fiber.

 

 That gasp let Deacon run his tongue along hers. Nora growled playfully, and received a growl back, before their tongue dueled. Nora allowed hers to be pinned and Deacon’s swarmed her mouth. Touching her teeth, lapping at her cheeks before turning to suck her tongue into his own mouth. It felt like he sucked the very breath from her lungs. Her hands came up, pushing against what flesh she could feel and pulling her neck back, gasping for air. “Dee,” Nora whined, shivering as her face was pulled back and her mouth ravished again. His weight against her chest shifted and with a simple tug, the sleeves of her suit were unknotted from her waist.

 

“How could you not be my type, Prof? Think I’d be here, chest to chest with you, if you weren’t?” asked the invisible man as fingers danced up the side of her neck, smoothing over her ear and cheek. The other hand smoothed up and down her outer right thigh as his lips kissed a line of fire over her voicebox. She felt his lips pull up in a grin as she moaned and squirmed. “I did follow you all the way here, didn’t I?” Deacon turned his face to the side and mouthed her voicebox with his teeth, even making playful chewing effects. Nora snorted through her nose, but hummed in satisfaction as those quick fingers started pulling her zipper the rest of the way down. The other hand moved around to her back, pinging her bra strap, and she raised her foot to kick at where she suspected his thigh was. From the feel, though, she caught him on the edge of his hip. “Now, Prof. Less feisty, more,” and suddenly her bra was undone, slipping down her arms and being tossed towards a desk. How in the hell did he do that to clothes? Nora’s hands moved to cover her breasts, only to have her wrists caught and pushed up next to her head. “Hm, best tits in the Wastes, indeed. At least a half cup bigger than my hands.” The hands left her wrists and cupped a breast each, squeezing the flesh slowly. “Delicious, Professor.”

 

“Dee,” Nora whined his name as he rolled them slowly. She could feel his hot breath against her collarbone. “Turn off the Stealth Boy, Dee. I want to see you.” A quick peck of lips against her own was her only answer as fingers slowly pitched and rolled her nipples. She nearly shrieked when her nipple was covered by his mouth, sucking softly and taking it between his teeth to roll it. As soon as her nipple was wet from his mouth, he pulled back and blew on it, making it rock hard and making her jerk. He continued to tease; squeezing her breasts in his whole hands while licking along her breast bone. He sucked a fresh hickie up along the top of her right breasts as his thumb and forefinger twisted her nipple like a toy. She whined and ached into his teasing grip, swearing she could feel a smirk against her.

 

She felt him kneel and take the other into his mouth for the same treatment. Fingers were moving along the inseam of her suit, down to her ankles and pulling on the smaller zippers there. Nora whined in protest as Deacon’s mouth left her, but helped him finish removing her suit, leaving her only in her underwear.

 

She jumped slightly as his left hand came up to continue palming her breasts while his right slowly ghosted its way up from her ankle, over her calf, the back of her thigh. She squeaked again as he gave a not so nice pinch to her cheeks. “Dee, I am not liking the invisible shtick. I can’t see where you are grabbin-EEE” Nora tried, and failed, to bite down on the embarrassed squeal that came up from feel Dee literally nose her mounds. She felt him grin and the cool glass of his shades nudged her at the elastic of her panties. “Let’s take those glasses off. They are cold.” A confirming hm sounded and a pair of shades were suddenly skidding along the floor… and Nora’s panties were down by her ankles. “How in the hell did you do that?! I didn’t even feel them move.” She felt and heard him laugh into her thigh as those arms looped around her waist. “Seriously?! Could you strip Danse or Hancock without them noticing?”

 

“Danse would be a little tough, but I have taken Hancock’s coat right off his back while he was talking to Mac. Almost got myself killed; had to throw it at him and dive into the Memory Den. Sat there in the rafters for two solid hours until he said, ‘Fuck it’ and got himself blasted. Now, be a good Professor,” a hand caught her ankle and coached her leg open a little more. “And try not to scream.” A breath of hot air coated her heavy curls before the tip of his nose settled into them, and suddenly teeth were taking her mounds and playfully nipping at the flesh. Nora was mortified and squirmed to try to close her legs. “Is it some rule in the future for guys to do this?”  There was a pause, Nora felt his fingertips twitch on her ankle, and suddenly all points of contact were removed. She heard a button being pushed, and Deacon shimmered back into view. His blue eyes, and lack of eyebrows, were questioning her. Nora sighed and covered herself before saying, “So… the idea of people using their mouths on others’… areas, was very uncommon in my time. Hell, it only happened once in my prewar life with a very drunk one night stand I had and _would you stop looking at me like I am a kicked puppy_?!” Nora snarled and reached down to grab her underwear, only to squeal as Deacon got himself under her and lifted her up on his shoulder.

 

“We are not having that,” Deacon pinned her legs to his chest as he walked them back into the bunk room. He pulled her underwear off of her ankle and tossed it aside as they went. “I love having a woman squeeze my head in between her thighs, and you have got some of the best thighs around.” Nora was flaming red as he plopped her down on the plush bed, she marked off for herself. She glared at the man, up until he yanked the T-shirt over his head and threw it behind him. He had to have shaved; there was not a single hair anywhere on his chest, arms, hell, he didn’t even have a happy trail. Curious, Nora looked down and just caught sight of the tent in his pants before he knelt down again. Nora tried to squirm away; this was the first time she couldn’t any of this blame on alcohol since she woke up. 

 

 Well, except- nope nope, not going down that trail of demons right now.

 

Deacon grabbed her ankle and pulled her onto her back and even more until her legs were mostly off the bed. “Deacon,” Nora whined, throwing her arms over her face, tensing up as he ran his nose along her inner thigh before nipping at it with those play chewing sounds.

 

“My earlier statement is still on the field, Prof. Try not to scream,” he said the last part with a low, almost threatening voice and his mouth engulfed her lower lips. He looped his arms around both of her thighs, holding on to her as she squirmed. He sucked most of her outer lips into his mouth before releasing them with a pop, and repeating the action. “You taste real good, Prof.” He moaned low as he pushed his tongue slowly between her lips, running it slowly up around the hood of her clit, down to the very bottom of her hole. Nora squirmed and whined, hiding behind her arms, chewing on her wrist to keep herself quiet. She jerked and whimpered as he blew cooler air on to her little nub before flicking his tongue around it in circles.

 

It wasn’t like Preston, who was straight to the point of getting her wet yesterday. Or Yefim and their quick, drunken tryst. Deacon was slow, careful… a god damn tease.

 

“Deacon please!” Nora couldn’t seem to get a good enough hold on anything as she panted, whined and twisted, trying to hold on to her damn senses. One of his hands was now on her chest, squeezing her breast, rolling her nipple. One of her hands was clamped on to his as a lifeline. The other flailed wildly between her own hair, her other breast and trying to dig her nails into the old mattress. He _teased_ ; he kept changing his motions as soon as Nora got anywhere close. Sucking on her clit until she was half frenzied before licking slowly up and down the outside of her hole. Hell, he had even blew on her rectum, which had her squealing and cussing him out. It was a good thing he still had one of her legs pinned because she would have kicked him. But she couldn’t anymore; she was way too sensitive after being brought so close so many times. “I swear to God, I _will_ scream if you don’t AHHH YES!” Deacon growled into her loins as he wrapped his lips around her clit again and sucked. Nora’s voice climbed higher with each suck, her hips almost levitating off the bed. She swore she was going to bruise from his grip on her, but she really didn’t care. “Pleasedon’tstop, D _eeeeeee_. Pleaseplease _please_ ,” and the climax crashed over her, making her legs shake as her toes curled. She couldn’t even scream out her pleasure, the air just wasn’t there. She swore she went blind for a few seconds as her brain reset.

 

By the time she was able to think again, Deacon was making a show of wiping her juice from his chin and sucking it off his thumb. He smiled, not in a _totally_ smug asshole way, as he pushed her body onto the bed fully before climbing over her. “See why the people of your time missed out,” Nora, gasping for air and red as a beet, nodded her head as fast as he could. Orgasm by mouth, very good… and that made her curious. “Oh, I know that look,” Deacon teased as he ran a finger in-between her eyes, like he was smoothing her curious mind from the outside. “If you want to try it yourself, I have no problems being your guinea pig. Not tonight though,” He hummed softly as he kissed her, settling in-between her still shivering legs. His hands carded through her locks, watching them spread out under her on the mattress. “Now, feel up for more fun, Prof?” A wicked gleam came to his eyes and Nora grinned back, before pushing him off some.

 

 

Blushing and feeling a bit adventurous, she rolled over to her front and wiggled her hips. “And now, as I am about to dine, I praise the Lord for this delicious feast.” Deacon made a show of clasping his hands together in prayer, before sitting back on his feet to unbutton and loosen his jeans.

 

“Oh, shut up Dee,” Nora canted her hips a little higher, not up on her hands and knees though. She gasped softly, then groaned as Dee pressed two soft kisses right at the apex of her cheeks before wiggling two fingers to run along her cleft. She hissed and then growled softly as he started _teasing_ again. Flicks of his fingertips over her clit before making ‘tickle’ motions against her hole. When he finally slipped those two fingers in, she bucked hard and bite into her forearm. “Stop biting yourself. Ask me to do it for you,” and Deacon leaned onto her left shoulder and bit her, sucking the flesh up into a harsh spot. Nora hissed and scratched at the mattress again, really wishing bed sheets were common in the Wastes. “Deacon, I don’t think I can get any wetter.”

 

“Remind me to prove you wrong another day,” Nora sighed and shivered in anticipation as Deacon’s hands moved to her hips, pulling them up to a bit more. He pushed into her at just the right angle for him to slip in. It was slow and steady, and Nora moaned and arched her neck back. Deacon groaned into her new tender shoulder, hissing as he bottomed out inside of her. He was a good fit, she could feel the head of his cock just resting on her inner most sensitive spot. It was a gentle stretch and she rolled her hips to tease him back, grinning as he hissed and shivered. A strangled noise caught in her throat as one of his hands came down and cupped her mounds. “De _eeee_ ,” no, she was too sensitive to be playing with her there.

 

“Sorry, Prof. I’m not going to last very long. God, you feel so slick and warm and,” Nora high pitched whine of embarrassment cut him off, though she felt him laugh into her shoulder. He rocked himself in and out of her slowly, his index finger rubbing circles into her clit as he did. Nora moaned, whined and squirmed, arching her hips and back to connect with the spy better. His aim was true, each thrust connecting with her inner spots just right. He was groaning low in her ear, nipping at it a few times before his pace picked up. He moved over her back and wrapped his arms tight around her waist as his forehead was pressed into her mid back. His thrusts were getting rougher, his fingers faster and Nora still couldn’t hold on properly as her gasps and moans echoed.

 

It was like a jolt; her orgasm hit and she screamed into the mattress. Two in one night?! God in heaven, and then Deacon chomped down on that one spot again, groaning as his hips staled, but he pulled out of her just in time. Nora whimpered as the hot jets of cum splashed onto her ass cheeks, feeling both of them shiver and shake. Deacon collapsed on to her, but pulled them both to their sides quickly, panting and moaning through his aftershocks. After a few moments, he growled into her ear and began giving her overacted kisses, until Nora broken into laughter over their ticklishness. Sighing, Nora rolled over and hugged the man to her front as he hugged her, wiggling her chin into the grove of his neck and shoulder. “I am glad you came with me, Dee.”

 

“Not just cause I showed you the fun of oral sex, right?” Nora’s face fell… and she hooked her fingers into his nostrils and pulled. “OW OW OW UNCLE UNCLE!” Nora glared at the man as he rubbed his nose. “You really have this thing about hurting my nose, don’t you?” Nora smirked, swatted him on his chest, before snuggling tighter into him. 

 

“Turn the light out when you leave, Dee.” Nora sighed and closed her eyes, grinning when he muttered ‘kicking me out of bed. What a cad,’. She gave his neck a kiss, “You can stay and snuggle if you want. But we both know you can’t be here at breakfast.”  Deacon leaned in for his own neck kiss. “Yup, can’t have the others getting jealous,” He sighed in contentment and nestled into her hair. Nora counted herself lucky to have such good friends.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone blame Gage for this one's length. He did it.
> 
>  
> 
> **Headcannon on heights: Nora is 5’ 8 ½”, Preston is 6’ 2”, Danse is 6’ 4”, Nick is 6’ 1 ½”,  
> Hancock is 5’ 9”, Deacon is 5’ 11”, MacCready is 5’ 8”, Piper is 5’ 6”, Cait is 5’ 1 ½” Strong is 7’ 6”**
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nora wasn’t sure when Deacon got up and left, with her PipBoy still plugged in to the Vault’s systems. She did know that he wiped her down with a washcloth, given her a lazy kiss, and set the dogs on her. That was how Nora woke up in the morning. Naked as the day she was born with Dogmeat laying against her back, Dogmeat Jr. flopped on her neck, and little Chewtoy at her feet. Nora reached to her back and scratched the daddy, whose foot started thumping. Got the good spot without even looking, Nora grinned. “Alright boys and girl, up.” Dogmeat launched up and yawned and quickly hopped off the bed. Chewtoy, the tiny 3-month-old pup from Dogmeat’s Hangman’s Alley litter, jumped up too, and squirmed her way next to her daddy. Junior, the lazy bum but mirror image of Dogmeat, blasted puppy breath in her face and tried to snuggle into her more. Dogmeat growled and cuffed his son behind the ears, making the pup yip and fall off the bed. Dogmeat mouthed his teeth around the pup’s muzzle before giving the 4-month-old a few good licks. Nora leaned her cheek on her bent arm and smiled. “And that is why you are a good dad, boy. Keep them in line, but kisses after.”

 

Dogmeat licked her cheek before ushering his crew away. Tiny Chewtoy, who looked more like a Rottweiler, kept pace while Jr ran ahead. Nora scrubbed her cheek into the mattress before getting up. Standing up and walking into the small bathroom area, Nora tried the shower. After a few grunts and groans, water started coming out. Nora gave it a solid minute before testing it. Lukewarm; not bad at all. She turned back to her bags for some shampoo and soap. Deacon had organized her bags before leaving; looks like her dirty clothes were already rolled up to be taken down. Hm, with a semi-working Vault, there was a decent chance, if they were extra lucky, there could be a useable washer and dryer. She hadn’t asked about that, but now her hopes were high.

 

After a quick but _thorough_ wash, Nora stepped back to her bags again. Looking through her clothes, and remembering she promised to take Strong Deathclaw hunting, Nora decided on her outfit for the day. Her last pair of clean undergarments first before she put on a pair of denim jeans and over them went a pair of dark brown leather chaps. Good for a long rodeo if there were any left. If not, Nora was going to have to take Strong somewhere else to break his boredom. Over her bra went a decently white tank top and over that was a breezy but durable plaid pattern shirt. She knotted the plaid up under her breasts, posing in the bunk room’s mirror. Oh la la, what two days of sex with your best friends would do to you? Nora had a nice glow and flush to her face, and just thinking about Preston and Deacon made a shiver go down her back, making her thigh squirm together. Nora huffed at herself, stomping her bare foot on the cold floor for good measure. She needed to stay focused; help the Capital Wasteland.

 

 _Hm,_ _wonder how Danse has-_

 

“Gahhh,” Nora scrubbed her face and pulled on her hair. NO, No NO! Focus! Her friends were _not_ her personal harem and she needed to _focussss_.

 

“Hello? Hello, hello? Blue?... This is your 7:00 am wakeup call from the Common Wealth… think it will go through this time, Nick?” a woman’s voice, still sounding freshly woken up herself, sounded from the Vault’s office. Nora gasped and bolted for her Pipboy; hm, looks like Deacon turned off the tunes when he left. Pulling it free of the wires and holding it in her hands, Nora turned on her microphone. “Piper?!”

 

“Blue! Oh man, it’s so good to hear you!” the woman’s voice belonged to one Piper Wright, former reporter of Diamond City and current partnered Mayor of before mentioned city. A black haired, hazel eyed woman who had traveled with Nora, just like the others, helping build the Common Wealth into a better place. Nora never had the heart to tell her that Piper was a little too… much, even for her. She was a hard and fast friend in small doses. But now…

 

“How is one of my favorite Mayors doing, Mayor Wright?” Nora sat down on the Overseer’s desk and grinned at her PipBoy. She could almost hear Piper rolling her eyes; she did hear the huff.

 

“One of your favorites? Geez, how many do you know now?” Nora grinned and playfully hmed like she was thinking. “There is you, and Hancock, and… well, not sure if I or Preston count, but we are the founders of the new Minutemen. Does that count? Mac is an ex- Mayor of kids, but I think he counts. And of course, a certain yellow eyed detective, who I am sure is leaning over your shoulder as we speak, rigghtttt?” Nora grin widened as she heard a second scoff/huff and a second voice joined Piper’s.

 

“Good morning to you too, doll,” Nora felt a shiver roll down her back at the silky, noir voice of Nick P Valentine. She grinned and hugged her PipBoy to her chest with a small squeal. “God, it is good to hear you two. Alright, report time. Which of us should go first?”

 

“Take it away, doll. I dare say, yours will be far more interesting. Out there in the still wide wastes of the Capital while we’re over here in the mostly peaceful ‘Wealth.” Nick did a good job sounding upset about the deal, though she also heard Piper push him.

 

Nora smiled, but it felt a touch fake. There were still plenty of dangers in the ‘Wealth. She’d been on the receiving end of one before she—fuck that train of demons. Nora snarled and dug her fingers into her forehead, kicking her heel into the desk. Pain helped distract her as that train tried to ram its way to the forefront of her mind.

 

“Nora?”  “Blue?” came the pair of worried voices from her Pipboy and Nora hissed behind her teeth. Right, focus. “Sorry guys, Junior seems to have left a present behind and I just stepped in it.”  Nora smiled at Piper’s gag and was happy with her lie. “Anyway, so far, limited trouble. A few Raider attacks, but no fatalities on our end. We got to this Vault we are in about noon yesterday. Cleared out the Raiders that were in here and settled in for a few days, maybe. Running water, good protection. I am going to take Strong and a few others to clear out the area, maybe 10 or so miles around us. Mac mentioned a small town in the area. Was supposed to have been cleared of Deathclaws around 10 years ago. I think we will hit that today. Strong is bored, and if there are anymore Deathclaws left, he’ll have a grand old time.”

 

“Nothing like throwing yourself into the lion’s den for the entertainment of a friend, hm?” Nick mused and Nora heard the door open over the speaker. “Hey, kiddos. You two have actually got great timing. Come over and say hi to Nora.” Two pairs of feet came running over and, from the sounds of it, dog piled on Piper and Nick.

 

“Ms. Blue.”

 

“Mom!”

 

Nora’s back locked in place and she had to bring her left arm up to bite into her forearm. Hard.

 

Shaun. The Synth version of Shaun. Sweet, kind, sharp as a whip and so friendly. Nora wished she had strangled the life out of the real Shaun rather than letting the cancer take him. Nora swore that Synth Shaun was a personal and deeply cutting torture _Father_ had prepared for her. She had honestly considered digging up his body and punching it when she first met the boy.

 

Now… he still made her hurt, but she could never wish harm on the child. No, she was actually making plans for the kid.

 

“Hi sweetie,” Nora cooed over the Pipboy and imagined those bright blue eyes lighting up. That thick head of rich, brown hair laying down except for the one stubborn cowlick at the back. “I hope you haven’t been giving the Mayors trouble? And that you have been going to school with Nat?” Both of Nora’s questions ended with a strained syllable; Shaun was well known for being ‘bored with the topside’ world and getting himself in trouble. She heard Nick and Piper chuckle and Shaun sigh dramatically. Geez, Nora worried that Synths could hit puberty.

 

“Mommmm, I promise I am going to school. Actually, I get to act as the afterschool tutor now. I am even helping Mr. Rodriquez with some modifications. He really likes the ones you showed me for shotguns.” Nora imagined Shaun bouncing on his feet, an old habit of hers she had seen.

 

“He’s doing great now, Blue. And we have moved up from practicing with pistols. He is getting a handle on scopes and things, but it’ll be a while before we let him try a rifle.” Piper chimed in, and there were a few chuckles as Shaun whined over the fact.

 

“Alright, kiddo, my Pipboy is reading 7:25. Aren’t you supposed to be heading for school?” Both kids groaned, but Piper agreed and she heard the three of them move further into the Mayors’ office. Whispering into her microphone, she said, “Nick, we need to talk.”

 

She heard a finger tap twice from the other end. “Alright, Nora. We’ll call you at 7 tomorrow… Piper, can you walk the kids in today? I need to look over a case again.”

 

Nora waited quietly. Listening as Piper wrangled the kids, Nat was whining just as bad as Shaun. She heard the squeak of a chair and the locking of a door before the chair was rolled back towards the microphone. “Just us, kid.” Nick’s voice was low, all business.

 

Nora felt her breath caught in her throat and her chest start to ache. “Have you found anything Nick? Please tell you have…” The silence on the other end was damning and Nora pulled at her hair. “Damnit!” She felt fresh tears starting to well up in her eyes.

 

“I’m sorry, Nora. I promise I am doing everything I can think of, but I…” Nick stayed silent as Nora cried as quietly as she could. It had been nearly two weeks now. Two weeks of waiting for Nora and two weeks of searching for Nick. Nora… she wouldn’t be able to stomach going back to Diamond City until Nick found _something_ to fix the problem. “I am so sorry, doll.” Nick’s own voice hitched softly.

 

“I miss you, Nick. I wish…” Nora sniffled and rubbed her eyes dry as she tried to take a few steady breaths. “I wish you the best in finding something. Just… keep me posted ok?”

 

“You know I will. Now, you need to tell me something, Nora. Have you had any… lapses? Nightmares?” Nora smiled, imagining if Nick was with her how he would have taken her hand as they talked.

 

“Nothing. I guess going to bed either drunk or exhausted is keeping them away. I have also… well… hm,” Nora fumbled and shook out her hand before rubbing her neck. “I have been getting… busy?” Nora was blushing as she listened to the fans of Nick’s body whirling and hoped she wouldn’t have to say anymore.

 

There was a very long pause on the other end as Nick wheeled himself closer to his microphone. “When you say you’ve been getting busy… you mean…”

 

“Oh, Jesus, Nick. You _are_ a detective. Please don’t make me spell it out for you.” Nora smacked her forehead and groaned as her face lit up again.

 

“Just… confirming,” Nick cleared his throat and Nora swore she heard his processor heat up. “With… well, with good people, I hope.” Nora squirmed.

 

“Nick, you are my friend and I love you. Please don’t go ‘father’ mode on me!” A fit of giggles hit Nora, helping evaporate most of the demons that were flooding her mind before. “I promise, they are good people. You called them such.” Oh, that was definitely his processor heating up. “On that embarrassing note, can I have your help with waking this Vault up? You know that time you rescued the mayor’s daughter?” Nora hopped off the desk, grinning like a mad woman. Her smile grew as she heard Nick chuckle, feeling it roll down her back, taking even more of her troubles away. “I am going to plug my Pipboy into the Vault’s audio system. I’ll leave it up to you.”

 

“Not going to look good on a new Mayor if he ends up being responsible for a group of people’s heart attacks.” Nora kissed on her microphone. Nick chuckled softly and sighed. “Alright, just for you, doll.” Nora beamed as she connected her Pipboy and turned the volume up gently. She very gently tapped her microphone twice.

 

“Attention Vault residents,” Nick’s voice lost a lot of its human inflection, but that noir accent didn’t go away. Nora, bit into her right palm to stop the bubble of giggles that threatened. “This is your friendly Vault-Tec self-destruct system warning. At 8:00 am, Common Wealth time,” Oh geez, Nick; way to give the joke away. “This Vault will self-destruct, thanks to your General. Beep… beep… Beep.”

 

Nora just couldn’t; she collapsed to her knees laughing. Hell, she even snorted a few times as she could just hear Nick chuckling behind his lips over the speakers. While she reached up, and fumbled, to pull the wire out of, half a dozen pairs of feet came running down the hall outside of the office. As the door hissed open, Nora beamed at her friends.

 

Cait was still in her ratty as hell pjs. Old, holey T-shirt that came down to her thighs and a pair of very loose and comfy denim jeans. Preston was at least half dressed in a fresh black undershirt and new cotton pants with his own tan chaps half-way done. He had one glove on and both of his feet were bare. Hancock looked like he had the little announcement all figured out. He had everything already in place except for his red coat and he was the only one smiling. Danse was full dressed in a black t with the sleeves cut off and a pair of tight dark blue jeans and black chaps. Mac, looking the least awake of them all, was also still in his pjs of a wife beater and what were bright red swim trunks. He also had a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. Looks like Nora’s threats were working.

 

Deacon was in the middle of pulling his new sky-blue T-shirt over his head, his jeans already on. He looked around the room, even strolling in before the others to come help her up. Nora was still giggling as Dee took her under her arms and lifted her up. His hands fell back down, just barely grazing her left ass cheek as he moved back. Nora bit her lip and hoped it looked like she was trying to hold back more laughter.

 

“Alright, why did you set off the self-destruct in here, Prof? We are all getting ready and behaving ourselves.” Deacon mused as he flipped the now unconnected Pipboy in his hands.

 

“Because she’s an over acting tyrant, prone to acting first and then dealing with the consequences,’ called Nick’s voice through the device, which made Deacon smile.

 

“Well, if it isn’t Diamond City’s greatest detective? Nora tells us you are Mayor now. How did you hide the bodies of those upper stands snobs? I need to take notes for a buddy of mine.” Deacon’s voice moved from energetic to deadly calm serious. Nora grinned as Nick scoffed.

 

“I don’t believe for one second that you didn’t know Piper and I won at the same time as Nora.” Nora gave a smug grin to Deacon, who wore an ‘I am shocked that you don’t believe me’ face. Suddenly, her hair was being yanked and Nora landed hard on her back, just to have Cait climb on top of her and snarl.

 

“Ya scared us half to death with Nicky?! It’s too goddamn early ‘or this shite,” Cait snarled, and growled even more as Nora kicked up, rolled them, and jumped off the small cage fighter. Cait sprang right back up herself and the two grappled for a bit. Hancock pulled the Pipboy from Deacon’s hand and gave Nick a play by play. Preston and Danse hung back and calmly watched as they adjusted their outfits for the day. Mac…

 

Nora growled, caught Cait in a headlock and gently shushed her with her palm. “Robert. Joseph. MacCready.” Nora growled each and every syllable, watching as the retreating back stiffened, then slumped in defeat as he looked over his shoulder. “Use the office bathroom, and do it twice.” Mac raised his fists above his head, clenched them like he was cursing the Gods of the Wastes and trudged off to the bathroom. Nora watched for a few seconds as he spread more toothpaste on his brush and started on his teeth again. Happy, Nora noggied Cait, who screeched and the two broke into the second round of the wrestling match.

 

“Well, I have a case I am working on,” Nora shivered and Cait, who was around her middle, raised her eyebrows. “Looks like Piper and I can get ahold of you lot now. Take care.” A chorus of ‘Bye Nick/Nicky/Valentine’ followed and a screech and pop from her Pipboy signaled the exit of Nick Valentine. Hancock, now with a cigarette that he bummed from Deacon, grinned down at the two still fighting ladies as he set the device on the counter. “Not that I don’t _love_ watching two very beautiful women wrestle and try getting under each other’s clothes, what is the plan for today, Princess?” Nora, having rolled over and squished Cait face first into the floor, made a show of rolling her eyes at the ghoul. “How’s everybody feel about Deathclaw hunting?”

 

A chorus of groans was her answer as she hopped off the tiny cage fighter and helped her up. “Look, Strong is bored, and we all know how dangerous that it. Mac,” Nora checked over in the bathroom again. The merc was still brushing his teeth, but was looking over now. “Mac said there is an old town not far from here. Used to be a Deathclaw hot spot. Not too likely to be if this ‘Lone Wander’ is like me, but if not, I’ll take the Big Guy out and clear the land 10 miles out.” Nora adjusted her rumbled plaid and tanktop and fixed up her hair. “If anyone doesn’t want to go, make sure you round everyone up to pick this vault _clean_. Have Cods check for any working washers and dryers and make this laundry day. We good?” A round of nods, and muffled hm from Mac, and everybody started to clear out. Hancock swaggered over, offering up her Pipboy. Nora quickly snapped it in place and smiled as Hancock took a moment to let his scared, dry fingertips draw a few small circles on her hand. “Jesus, Hancock. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to flirt with me.” Nora made a point of leaning to the ghoul. He grinned, kissing her temple like she had done his, before walking off with a wink. Nora rubbed the back of her hand where John pet. It was an interesting texture. Almost like someone who had had a nasty sunburn mixed with a person who did hard labor and never got a chance to use lotion. Nora could never really match it with anything she knew pre-war, so it was now just ‘ghoul texture’.

 

She looked over into her bathroom as Mac spit the last of his toothpaste into the sink. Stepping to his side, she pulled her eyebrows up as he looked at her and scowled. Pocketing the toothbrush and paste into his swim trunks, he turned towards her and opened. Nora gently took his chin and pulled his left cheek back slowly. The fine stitching that had been done during his tooth reconstruction was still good and the swelling was definitely going down. Now all that she saw was 32 beautiful white teeth. She smiled at the slightly shorter man, and he tried to grin back with her fingers on his mouth. “It’s still looking good, Mac.” She let him go and caught his barely there sigh in relief. “Course you aren’t going to blow my caps by not brushing them, are youuuu?” Nora grinned at the new scowl on the merc, and she reached up to smooth the little wrinkles that formed between his eyes.

 

“First thing I grabbed this morning was the toothbrush. Come on, boss,” Mac whined and Nora smile brightened. She pulled the man into a nice hug, feeling him tense a moment, relax and start to hug back, only to tense again before feeling his face heat up. She let him go when she heard him clear his throat. “Hm… boss… you need to tell… Preston… not to,” Mac was looking away now that she let go of him. “Hm? Tell Preston what? He was just here. We can go-” Mac turned to face her and taped on her shoulder. Nora hissed softly at the tender spot… Deacon’s hickie!! Nora covered her mouth and flushed just as bad as Mac. “He needs to… put them somewhere… not so visible.”

 

Nora looked down and looked for the spot. She couldn’t even see anything through her two shirts. “How can you see… wait! How do you know about Preston?!” Nora felt mortified that now a total of three other people knew about her tryst with Preston. God, what would they think of her if they knew about Deacon last night? Or her romps before now?!

 

MacCready’s face moved between an innocent smile into a leer. “Well, besides the camper rocking,” Nora slapped her forehead, “Preston looked like he got kicked out of bed last night and he and Hancock were taking snaps at each other. Hancock said something about the walls having ears, and Preston said those ears need something better to do. It was actually really funny watching Preston get the balls to play Alpha on John.”  Nora groaned and leaned on the wall as Mac took a moment to use her soap to wash his face. “Got to admit, bit jealous of the Minuteman.” Mac looked at her from the corner of his eye, and Nora noticed the same look that John had given her yesterday. They were both… jealous?!

 

Nora moved back over to the merc and snuggled behind him, feeling him tense, but quickly relax. “You’re… jealous, Mac?” She pushed her face into the grove of his neck and shoulder, feeling the man lean back into her arms.

 

A slow, deep breath followed by a release; the same as when he was lining up a shot. “Yeah, guess I am.” Mac admitted softly. Nora looked up and saw them both looking at each other in the mirror. Nora smiled softly and Mac, slightly red-faced, smirked back. Nora snuggled her face into his neck again.

 

“I didn’t… think about it. To be brutally honest, I thought you might still be in love with Lucy. I don’t blame you in the least; she sounds like a wonderful woman,” Nora squeezed a little tighter as Mac tensed again. She pecked his neck before looking at the mirror again. Mac was staring down at his feet, but must have felt her looking because his eyes turned back up to the mirror. “I didn’t think you had any interest in me, Mac.”

 

“You never did see yourself as others see you, boss. Nothing you have done has been a big deal to you. To you, helping out the ‘Wealth, saving kids, and half the time not asking for a cap in return,” Mac shook his head at the last part, making Nora grin. Mac and caps went hand and hand.

 

“Lucky for us, I never refuse them when they are offered.” Nora squeezed around his middle quickly, and continued her snuggles. “I am not… looking for anything, Mac. So far, everything has kind of fallen into my lap. Although, I was the one to seduce Preston.” Nora bit her lower lip, blushed and hide her face in Mac’s neck, feeling his quiet laughs roll through his frame. “There is… something going down, back in the ‘Wealth, that is making it easier for me to… what’s the phrase? Keep myself open? At least open to seduction now, stop grinning like that.” Mac had turned his eyes to her and wiggled his brows. “God lord, you and Hancock need to stop hanging out together. Now,” Nora clapped her hand in between the sniper’s shoulders and moved off of him. “Less about my sex life, more on getting dressed and taking out some Deathclaws. I hope there is one; they are really good steaks.” Nora turned to give him some room, only to feel him catch her hand. Turning, she beamed as he lifted that hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. Almost school girl like giggles bubbled from her throat and Mac laughed with her. “Stop taking notes from Hancock, Mac.”

 

“Hey, if it gets you to make those kinds of sounds, I need to practice my writing and take notes,” Mac kissed her hand again, before reaching for her shoulder. He adjusted her sleeves, pulling the strap of the tank top to the middle of her hickie. “Oh, and boss?” Nora, who had been watching his fingers work, hmed and looked back at the face of the sniper. His cheeks were flushed, but he leaned in to give her a gentle kiss. Nora hid her smile by chewing her lip again as he pulled away. “Give me a little time. My seduction game is a little rusty.” He winked and walked off, leaving Nora to squeal in the back of her throat. Jesus, you seduce one friend and everyone else wants a piece.

 

_Maybe you should stop while you’re ahead. They won’t be so quick to overlook your flaws when they find out about-_

 

Nora growled, snapping both of her arms out to shake them, even going so far as to smack the back of her head against the wall. It wasn’t working this time; she felt the frustration and fear ready to scream out of her as her mind looped through so many demons. She rolled up her left sleeve, pulled off her Pipboy and let her teeth sink into one of the old, faint semi-circle scars on her forearm. She tried to muffle the screams as they climbed out of her. She sucked down the blood that pooled in her mouth.

 

 

It took about 20 minutes before Nora got those demons back on their train and to the back of her mind. She took a few extra to wash up her arm and brush her teeth again. Looking down at the damage she did, Nora decided she needed to get Curie to give her a bit of a stimpack. The marks were starting to get noticeable. Nora tensed and cussed; she hoped Deacon hadn’t noticed… no screw that. There was no way he hadn’t. Hell, she bit at herself while they were busy. Nora just hoped he didn’t recognize the marks for what they were.

 

Slapping the Pipboy back into place, Nora pinched her cheeks and shook herself off. Too many other things to do, she thought as she left the office and moved to her people. She called order and quickly explained her plans for the day. She was going to leave Cods at the helm of taking care of the Vault. Anyone who wanted to join her and Strong should be ready in 20 minutes. Nora headed for the Raiders next. Luckily, Curie had just finished tending to Gage. After a quick alcohol swab to the needle, Nora injected herself in the elbow. She would look later to see how the marks were healing.

 

All but Gage looked up when she arrived in, and Nora ignored Mason’s wolf whistle. “Good morning. I hope you lot didn’t cause trouble last night. Got two offers on the table for you. I am taking a group about 5 miles over to hunt for possible Deathclaws,” Even Gage looked up like she was crazy, but Nora just smiled. “Other than that, it’s laundry day, meaning those that stay behind will be put on washing duty.’ All of the scowled and Mags climbed off her bed, walking over and half shoved her face into Nora’s. A few quick glances from Mags to Nora’s hand and Nora reached up to pull her gag away. “I thought we were to be given free choice in your care. Giving us only two options, or making us choose from any options, doesn’t sound like you are interested in that freedom at-“

 

“Shut the fuck up, Mags,” Mason snarled and stood up, moving closer to her. Nora tensed slightly; ready for this to be a ploy. “Do I get a gun this time, boss? Bats good for people, ain’t so great against that kinda prey.”

 

Nora smiled and turned her body toward Mason, making a visual dismissal of Mags, but keeping her body primed for an attack. “No guns, Mason, but I’ve got plenty of other weapons you could pick from. Even got some Deathclaw gaunlents I’ll let you borrow.” Mags was fuming, but Mason grinned and nodded. “I’ll be with you, boss.”

 

“I will, too,” came a rolling drawl as Gage stood up. He rolled his neck and clicked it back into place. Nora pulled out her indifferent face as he stood before her. Right at Deacon’s level, and nearly the same age, Gage had a bit more of an imposing figure to him. He was brilliant and quick; she never saw him take that scalpel yesterday. Nora nodded and let him pass her, turning herself just enough to keep him in her sights, never giving him her back.

 

“You sure are worried about Gage, _Overboss_ ,” Nora’s eyes snapped to Mags, who grinned at Nora’s glare. Her eyes narrowed as Nora smirked and barked a laugh into her face. “I am worried about Gage, Mags, because he’s the only one of you four who actually has a chance of killing me and getting away with it.” The whole room tensed and Mags looked ready to argue, but Nora just shoved the woman back onto her bed. She placed her foot on the bed and lorded over the fuming woman. “You and William will rush your chances. You two are a lot more hot-headed than you like to lead on. You’ll try to find the quickest way to kill me, but you’ll also try to make it personal. Right up in my face,” Nora pronounced the last words with extra power. As each left her mouth, her face moved closer and closer to Mags. “Gage will wait. He’ll be quiet and patient. He’ll watch and sit back. Once he kills me, he’ll run, never looking back. He won’t crow his victory like you two and Mason. He’ll take it and run.” Nora kicked off the bed and walked over to Gage and Mason. Gage was looking at her, somber, but deep in his eye, she saw it.

 

That spark of fire that came from being betrayed by the person you trust most.

 

 

_It was done! After 2 solid weeks, dozens of boxes of ammo, two new sets of power armor, probably 15 stimpacks, and more laser burns than EVER, Nuka World was clear._

 

Nora’s back fell against the door to the roof of the _World of Refreshment_. Slightly hysterical giggles fell from her mouth every few seconds as she finally let her brain catch up. The Nukalurk Queen’s body was still twitching; she could hear the shell pieces click against the ground. She told Strong to go down to get any eggs her Fat Man had missed and start cutting up the meat. Deacon, disguised as a normal Raider, was off checking the roof for spare ‘lurks. Gage was standing, looking out far into the park… before a choked laugh. It grew into rolling and roaring laughter that Nora half-grinned at. Gage looked at her, bright eyed and mildly insane and stomped over to her. Despite the adrenaline crash and shaking limbs, Nora tried to pull her more upright; the stature of a commander.

 

Gage closed in and reached out to pull her into an embrace, spinning her around briefly before hugging her to him. “You did it, boss,” He called her that with a near religious fervor. Nora gave another half-grin and clapped the older man on the back, but couldn’t keep herself up anymore. The older Raider caught her as her shaking limbs gave out on her, picking her up and setting her on an old, _old_ mattress that seemed to have been placed up here at least 100 years ago. He knelt down beside her, still grinning. “It took you two weeks, Boss. Two _fucking_ weeks to do what Coulter didn’t do in a year. Shit, you are the Holy Fucking Terror of the Common Wealth,” Nora smiled up at the man, but kept silent. Two weeks of playing these raiders for fools was about to come to an end. A likely very bloody end, yet somewhere inside her, she wanted to get Gage as far from the imminent danger as possible. He had been with her through all the parks. Ferals, robots, and monster animals; they had been through it all together. Gage opened to her, even when she hadn’t done the same for him. She had watched his mind work in amazing complicated way. Would she be able to get his surrender in time?

 

Her body was still coming down from the high as she recognized the callused hand rubbing up and down her tired and aching right arm. He was trying to soothe her down from her high; Nora watched his eye. He watched her, and Nora tensed the moment she saw that small amount of lust meet his earlier fervor. Gage liked her.

 

“Boss?” Gage questioned at her tensing. Nora gave him a tired smile and shook her head. “Nothing, Porter. Just tired. Is Drake or Strong back? I want to get the hell out of here and give it to the Pack.” Nora moved to sit up, hissing and swearing at the skin tearing along her previously stitched up hip. Gage took notice of her fresh patch of blood through her jeans, and ran off to get a new stimpack.

 

“Prof?” Nora sighed in relief as an invisible hand wrapped around her face. She smiled up at nothingness. “It’s time, Dee. Do something to make it seem like no big deal on your way out.” Nora whispered and moved to roll over on her good side. The hand gently tapped her cheek twice and pull away from her. Gage returned with fresh supplies and rolled down her jeans without ceremony. ‘Drake’ rounded the corner as Gage injected her with 2 mils of Med-X and stuck her with the Stimpack. “Yo, Terror. Porter. We finally got this shit done,” Drake scratched his bald head and adjust his shades as he crouched down. “Guess that means I get to finally take off and head back to the Combat Zone, huh?” Gage looked mildly confused as he started to stitch her some again.

 

“Thought you and Overboss were a thing Drake?” Both Nora and Drake laughed, though Nora had to do hers softly. “Who? This shit-head?” Nora thumbed over to Deacon. “Nah. Tried to buy off the Combat Zone’s ghoul. Wanted that little redhead, but Ghoul wouldn’t sell. Got Drake instead. Not bad for the caps I paid, but I better earn enough from this bullshit to buy her.” Nora waved off Drake, who tapped his rifle to his shades and left, whistling the Nuka-World song.

 

After that, Gage finished her repairs and helped her up. Strong arrived back soon after and the three of them walked/limped back to NukaTown. Strong surprised her on the way back. “Human fight like super mutant. Human kill robots, ghouls and humans like super mutant. Strong respect human before. Strong still respect human. Human is Strong’s leader now.” Nora was floored and quickly accepted the position. The super mutant had been in her company off and on for about 6 weeks now, and he had been the lone standout of ‘friends’. Another thing Nuka-World was good for.

 

As they passed through town, whispers and not-so-whispers ran around them. The Pack and Operators had two parks each for them, which left the Disciples only one. Nora mentally snorted at the lack of logic that surrounded the Raiders. There were 5 fucking parks and three gangs! It was simple math to understand that _someone_ was going to be left out.

 

Not that it would matter in a few days.

 

Strong camped out at the entrance to Fizztop as Gage and Nora rode the elevator to her quarters. Limping up in the area, she started pulling from her collection of Nuka-World clothes. She needed something light and airy because she was going to sleep for the rest of the damn day. “Porter?”

 

“Yes, boss?” The deep drawl was right next to her. Once again, she cursed her love for deep voices as she bit her tongue to stop herself from asking him to keep talking.

 

“If any of the gangs start shit while I am asleep, tell Strong to eat them, please.” Nora grinned over her shoulder at the man, who gave her a knowing smirk and a quick nod. “Also, need some privacy,” Nora held up her Cappy T-shirt, and red Bottle capris. Gage nodded and made a show of picking up their packs and carrying them into his room of the Grill. Nora waited an extra beat before shedding her thick coat of leather, followed by her flannel and undershirt. Boots, socks and jeans fell away too, and the Nuka clothes went on. Picking up a still half-filled bottle of whiskey, Nora plopped herself down in armchair that over looked the Disciples’ den and the pond outside.

 

Sometime later, after the bottle had slipped through her fingers, and thunked to the floor, Gage returned. Nora’s head rolled on her shoulders to watch him as he brought out their different loot. A crate for trade, pieces to look over and see if she wanted them, and a nice sack full of caps. He took a pair of bottles from under his arm and offered the ¾ full one to her as he sat down and drank from his full bottle of bourbon. The two drank is silence for a while; Nora had to cap hers soon after. She had hoped she’d be more resistant to alcohol by now.

 

“What do you want to do next, boss?” Gage asked, looking over his shoulder back at her. Nora covered her shiver from his voice by stretching out her body, choosing to ignore the way Gage’s eye panned over her exposed stomach and legs. Nora snorted softly as she thought back to just how used to being leered at she was now. Let the people look; if anyone touched, they’d get a pistol in the mouth. No, Gage was too damn smart for that.

 

“I say we rest for a week and then make some long-term decisions after. We fucking deserve it, Porter,” Nora beamed at the Raider, who smirked and nodded back. He raised his bottle in her direction before taking a long drink.

 

“… and if all you idiots are keepin’ count, that means the Overboss as cleared _all_ of Nuka -World,” came the raspy voice of Red-Eye from Gage’s radio in the back. Nora snorted and giggled; at least someone else told the Raiders their math skills suck. “Let’s hear it was the Overboss!! Next on the list is some news. Looks like those settlements those pussy-ass Minutemen are startin’ up are going pretty good. Hell, last I heard, some non-Nuka crew got themselves blasted to fuckin’ hell and back trying to get into some place called Sanctuary. Can’t believe those do-gooders are getting shit done. Maybe Overboss can run us in someday and knock ‘em off their high Brahmin.” Nora sighed and lifted the bottle again, thankful once again for Dee’s lessons. Keeping a neutral face in front of Gage would be taxing otherwise. She didn’t stop her frustrated huff though.

 

“Boss?” Gage asked as he moved his chair over to her, sitting at her stretched out feet.

 

“Nothing Gage. Just want to pistol whip Red-Eye right now. That kind of shit? Hitting the Minutemen? That’d be my fucking call, but now that he’s said it, all the gangs will want me to head out tomorrow and get started.” Nora’s head rolled back over the back of her chair. “Fuck, we _deserve_ a week’s worth of sleep, and if _any_ of the leaders push me on it, I _will_ feed them to Strong.” Nora snarled low… the sound tapered off when she felt Gage pulled her ankles up and sit them in his lap. “Gagggeee,” Nora warned low; not knowing what the man wanted, but not liking where he moved her to.

 

“Easy, Boss. I ain’t tryin’ nothin’. Got too much respect for ya to try anythin’.” Gage separated and set her feet on each of his knees and thighs before he started rubbing along the bottom of her right foot. Nora hissed hard before moaning low, feeling her body shudder and relax. Fuck, not her feet…

 

“Had one of these before, Boss?” Gage asked as his thumbs dug into her arch and his fingers rubbed the top of her toes. Nora moaned a yes, before properly answering with, “Yes, but the last one was months ago. Before that, my husband took me to a spa. It was a place where people paid to be rubbed down. Oh fuck, Gage there,” Nora hissed again as Gage continued to work her sole with his rough hands.

 

“Damn, Pre-War sounds like the life,” Gage mused, mostly to himself it sounded like. Nora snorted, and waved Gage off when he looked up. It was in some regards, especially for the men. “Oh yeah, in my time, a woman who showed off as much skin as Raider ladies do was seen as a goddamn whore and kicked out of her town for it. I would know,” Nora muttered the last part to herself, feeling her muscles tense in old rage. She was distracted by Gage digging into both feet with his thumbs, making Nora clutch her armrests. “Shit, Gage, you are way too good at this.”

 

“Nah, Boss. Just watchin’ ya. You’ve been favorin’ the right for two days now. What hit ya?” Gage smoothed over the backs of her ankles, over the tops of her feet and rolling gentler circles into the arches.

 

“Can’t remember. Probably something stupid like tripping on a Nuka bottle. Fucking things are everywhere. We need to get some damn people to clean up the pathways and,”

 

“And all your big decisions can wait a week, Boss.” Those rough hands moved up to her calves now, making him scoot closer. Long, hard strokes and even some scratches rolled up and down Nora’s leg. They were quiet for a few, though she swore she felt some kind of tension rolling through the man. “Porter?”

 

“Just thinkin’… you’re beautiful, Boss.” Gage kept his eye down, but Nora saw a slight reddening of his skin along his neck. Nora’s guilt boiled over and she took her feet off of his lap. He looked equal bits disappointed and worried; had he over stepped their bounders? “Thank you, Gage. I am just going to be blunt like I am normally; no. I haven’t had any interest in romance, sex or whatever the Wastes have to offer since I woke up. You feel me?” Nora had to catch her mental snort; now she was mimicking her friends?!

 

Gage nodded and offered his hands to her. Nora cocked a brow to drive the point home before giving her feet back.

 

_Not interested or not, there was no way she was turning down a foot rub._

 

 

 _Every day after the conquest of_ World of Refreshment, _new people were in town._

 

The first day was some rogue of a sniper, looking to sell a semi-feral ghoul to the highest bidder. Nora bought the half-naked ghoul to be her guard dog at the bottom of Fizztop’s interior. The sniper took his caps, tipped his hat, and was given clearance to see the sights, so long as he didn’t cause shit. He was allowed to finish any shit that was started against him, though, much to Nora’s pleasure.

 

Next came an overgrown scraper with a broken Mr. Handy and Nannybot. Gage didn’t like him; saying the man was way too built to be just a scaver. Nora agreed, but was patient. Let the man make a move; she’d string him up by his guts if need be. Others were watching him, but he just made his trades and camped out along the outside wall. Didn’t see hide or hair of him after that.

 

Gage welcomed Drake back with minimum confusion. Nora beamed and fingered the bomb collar of his new companion, a dangerous little redhead who was snarling and snapped at her fingers. Drake explained that this redhead was the prize fighter of the Combat Zone that Nora had tried to buy. Since the ghoul wasn’t selling, Nora’s Common Wealth crew tore open the Zone and took her. Gage’s eyes scanned the rest of the crew she had left back in the ‘Wealth. The black-haired woman looked nearly as clean as the Overboss, but she was quick to pull a gun on Drake when his hand slid up the Overboss’ leg. The one covered up head to toe in gear didn’t talk at all, simply took his place behind the Overboss on the other side of Gage as they walked the town. The last two, some dark-skinned critter handler and his prize mutt, had to have been new. He let himself get talked down to by a slave and Overboss had to pistol whip the slave for him. She then slapped the green horn and hauled him off.

 

Things around Fizztop got fairly crowded with her crew in tow. Whispers were going around. Overboss was going to use her own crew to do something. Gage never saw trouble from them; she made them camp out with Strong and they acted like her in a lot of ways. All of them watched, observed the goings on. The one in the gear didn’t seem to move; he took a seat by the lake and would sit there for hours. Drake was in charge of the redhead, Cait, and took her everywhere he went. When Nora sent him to collect from the gang’s tributes, when he was sent off to the Arcade to win her some more tickets; hell, he was the one reporting about the scavers that were getting too close to the power plant. Gage knew a good patsy when he saw one.  The green horn was shit; shit with a pistol, shit with a knife, just a shity Raider. The one time Gage nearly asked why she kept him around, Nora seemed to have read his mind and snapped.

 

“I know he is shit, but I fucking owe his old lady,” Nora thumbed over to dark-headed Pin-Pricks, who was using a work bench to modify a laser rifle. Nora had given her the plans and Pins was trying to make something her boy could use.

 

Gage watched the crew for a few more days. Strong went out with her Raiders to take care of outside mole rats and scorpions and Nora kicked her feet up and planned. Gage glanced over at her drawings, but couldn’t make heads or feet of that shit. A beep on her Pipboy sounds and Nora grumbled; needed to feed the ghoul. Gage moved out of her way as she dug into her cooler. A slab of meat and a pair of tatos was placed on a plate. She grabbed her junk bag and a 10mm before heading down. Gage listened to the half snarls that came from below, followed by her ‘Sit…stay… Good, now eat.”  The ghoul had stayed down there for three days now. On quiet nights, Gage could hear it shuffling about. Hell, last night, he swore he heard the thing cackle.

 

 

 

It was exactly one week later that Nora set her plan into motion. She sent her most of ‘crew to the back end of Safari Zone to double check on any left over Gaterclaws’. John would let Danse in to Fizztop once all the Raiders were heading to Galactic for her ‘Grand announcement’ and the two of them would clean up any stragglers the crews left behind as a caution.

 

True to his word, Gage got all the crews together-mostly unarmed- and she was now standing before them the middle section of the Starport Nuka tower. The gangs below her were restless, but cheered her when she and Gage walked out to the railing. The Raider bosses were on the ramp that led up to them, making a show of team work. Nora nodded to Gage, who handed over a semi-working mega phone. Stepping away from Gage to take center stage, she didn’t jump when Gage fired off a pistol to get the Raiders’ attention.

 

“Good morning Nuka-World Raiders. This is your Overboss, Nora the Holy Terror of the Wealth.” Cheers, shouts of ‘Fuck yeah’ ‘Go Boss’ and others sounded. “If you idiots still haven’t counted up the parks right, The Packs got Safari Zone and World of Refreshment,” Howls sounded in the air; Mason’s being the loudest.  “Operators have got Galactic Zone and Dry Rock Gulch. Hope you lot keep making those persuasion grenades. I like those.” Polite claps and subdue cheers echoed her, Mags and William nodded in agreement. Hell, Mags smiled at her. “Lastly, was Kiddie Kingdom, given to the Disciples. Now, despite Nisha’s rule about not getting caught,” Nora poignantly looked over to the masked Raider, who kept her face toward the crowd. “I have been hearing plenty of bitching and moaning. Hell, I heard two death threats. And where are those two now? In my super mutant’s gut.” The crowd stilled and they all looked to the mix of Disciples, watching them. “Point I am making is, this shit was never going to break down evenly… not just inside Nuka. Course,” Nora grinned and a few of the Raiders caught on quick to what she was talking about. “There is a whole Common Wealth out there, just right for the taking,” a low murmur of glee was taking over, “and that’s been the plan.”

 

“Until now.”

 

Flares shot up from the top of the tower and dozens of armed to the teeth Minutemen came from their hiding spots below, surrounding the normal Raiders. A cry of pain from Gage signaled Preston’s arrival, and Nora looked to see Preston in his true garb with that new laser rifle to Gage’s head. The man was kneeling forward with Dogmeat sitting right in front of him, teeth at his neck. Gage turned his one eye to her, begging for some clarity. Nora gave it by shrugging out of her Raider armor and tying a Minutemen’s bandana on her head. She looked at him once more, and saw the pure defeat in the old Raider’s eye. Nora turned to the other leaders. Strong had Mason in a choke hold and the boss was close to passing out. Piper had rifle butted Mags in the head and Nick cuffed Williams hands behind his back. Codsworth and Curie were hovering over their shoulders, ready to saw the two Blacks. Nisha…

 

Damn the bitch was fast, Nora thought as she recognized the woman charging at her, blade in hand. Deacon was supposed to be bringing her weapons; all she had at the moment were her skills, thanks to Hancock, and Pickman’s knife.

 

It was a messy fight; Nisha was one for theatrics. She aimed to spill the most blood while keeping Nora alive. Nora had no interest in that and while Nisha aimed for her arms and legs. Nora spun her, trying to parry and find a spot into her neck, gut or heart. Nisha figured that out fast and time stood still as Nora felt that blade press into her ribs, through them and continue up. As Nora’s own blade slammed down into her jugular, Deacon was suddenly there, throwing the Raider off and stabbing her with a stimpack at the same time. She leaned heavily on her spy as he looped one of her arms over his neck. Fuck, even with the stim working its fucking magic, it was hard to breath. She needed to finish though. “Grab her body, Dee?”

 

“Nora, you need-“ Nora wrenched her arm from his neck and walked over to the rail again. Picking up the megaphone, she glared over at Deacon. The spy picked up the body and with Nora’s go ahead, dropped it down to the Raider’s below. Disciples raged, but most were still processing Nora’s betrayal. Nora started talking again.

 

“I am General Nora Black, General of the Minutemen of the Common Wealth. I earned the name ‘Holy Terror of the Common Wealth’ because I rip though Raider camps on a damn near daily basis. I’m not here to see you burn the Wealth to the ground. I am here to stop you.” The hiss of Power Armor from the gates sounded. Danse was leading 5 other Minutemen in armor while wearing her Quantum set. Hancock was back in his red frock and tricorn, shotgun in one hand, flipping his favorite knife in the other. They were all already blood stained and looking ready for more. “I have made powerful allies who came with me on this mission. We are going to clear Nuka-World of raiders and open it to all of the ‘Wealth. Whether you live through this day or not is up to you. If you want to live, take a knee and don’t get up. If you want to fight us, good fucking luck.” Nora threw the megaphone over the rail and pulled the pin on three of the Operators grenades before tossing them down. She didn’t know if the effects would work after the fact, but she was willing to try.

 

It was fucking _horrible_. Most of the Operators were smart enough to take a knee. Mason tried to bark out an order for his Pack to do the same, but most never heard his rough voice. The Disciples all came for her blood. And god was there blood. Nora’s submachine gun tore through at least a dozen on her own as they tried to scramble up the ramp, while Preston and the Minutemen’s rifles thundered through the zone. Somewhere over head, MacCready laid down shot after shot, blowing heads to pieces. Cait and Strong stayed with the leaders while Nick, Piper, Cods and Curie took off after those that fled. Dance and the Power Armor men were the ones on the front line, and they are damn good at killing those that wanted to fight. Hancock was going around like a ninja, handcuffing all those that had taken a knee, and slicing open the few they tried to play him.

 

Nora took two bullets, one in the knee and one in her sliced open ribs, and Deacon stayed close, given her stims and cover fire. It took a good half hour before silence sounded through the zone. Nora leans heavily on Deacon again as they walk over to the leaders. Preston has Gage handcuffed with the rifle to his head as the two walk over to join Mags, William and Mason. Sucking in a breath, she pulls away from Deacon and takes a 10 mm in hand. “Now it’s your turns.” The three looked up from their positions and waited. “Same choice. Fight me, you die. Work with me, you live. I am setting everyone who surrenders to work at my settlements. It’ll be hard labor for years, but you’ll be alive. After five, you’ll be let go, to do as you wish. You start raiding again, I put you down like dogs. Simple?”

 

All of the leaders were snarling at her; Mags and William looking and trying to communicate to each other through their eyes. “Fuckin’ cunt,” Mason snapped and every one of her crew looked ready to shoot him. “That’s General Black, Mason. Or Boss, sister, princess, Blue and a number of others.” Nora gave a half grin, shaking her head as her vision tried to gray. “You lot will call me General, General Black, Boss or Ms. Nora. So,” Nora pressed the pistol to Mason’s brow and waited. The red-haired man glared for a few moments longer, before lowering his eyes. “Gotcha, General.” Nora nodded and took her gun to William’s head. “Overboss,” Nora pistol whipped him across the nose, ignore the blood that splashed onto her boots. She held the pistol back to his forehead as he swore and spat out blood. His eyes came up to hers before he hissed out a “General.” Nora nodded and moved to Mags. Nora didn’t even need her pistol for her. “General Black, I thank you for your mercy.”  Nora cocked her brow. “I’m going to have a lot of problems with you, aren’t I, Mags?” The woman kept most of her face neutral, but Nora knew that blaze in her eyes.

 

Last one…

 

Nora took a deep breath and turned, looking Gage in the face. The man looked defeated and somber. Hell, he looked like he’d welcome death right now. “Porter,” he didn’t respond. “Gage,” Nora half-whispered, watching as that dead eye looked up at her. “Please don’t make me kill you.” Nora didn’t even raise her gun; she really didn’t want to do this. There was a long pause as the General and Raider stared at one another. Gage cleared his throat and answered, “You might as well, Boss, but I ain’t goin’ ask you to. Whatever you want, General.” Gage stared her down with nothing, but disappointment in his eyes. Nora actually broke first.

 

“I need a status report on everyone and everything. Get all those that surrounded to Nuka-Town. Make sure we have enough collars… and… shit,” the world swirled and Nora tried clutching on to Deacon as her _legs gave out…_

 

 

Murmurs, some of them rather loud, were around her as she started opening her eyes again. And _great Jesus, Mary and Joseph and all the Saints!_ did she hurt. She gasped herself fully awake and had her hands clamor for her ribs. Several pairs of hands stopped her and someone called for John and Curie.

 

“Easy, Boss, easy,” Mac gentle baritone shushed her and she watched him come into view. He was to her left and the one with her hands up in the air, though Danse and Deacon hovered on her right side. Curie hovered over quickly and gently shooed them away. Hancock had three syringes of Med-X in his hands as he stood next to Mac. “Before you ask, boss, you are back at your pad. Everyone that surrendered got loaded up. Cods is mad you didn’t clean this place up, and you’ve been out for two days.”

 

“Give. Me. That.” Nora snarled and did her best to point at Hancock. “Now, princess, what have I told you about me wanting my women fit an’ able?” The ghoul grinned and Nora very dramatically rolled her eyes. “The chems, Mayor Asscock,” That one got several snorts and quiet laughter. The ghoul barked a quick laugh and handed one of the syringes to Danse, who made very sure not to touch the mayor. Danse threw the cover off of her legs and gently unwrapped a dressing on her right knee. Hancock was a bit more easy-going about her pain killer. A quick tap to the needle, her shirt was edged up and on the count of 2 (not 3 like he warned) the chem was shot around her wound. Hell, John was done while Danse was just getting started, but she was thankful, because _that_ bullet had hit bone. A few mils later and Nora sighed into her pillow. “How am I looking, Curie dear?”

 

“Forgive me for zaying zo, Madame Black, but you are looking quite terrible.” Nora, once again, wished she knew how to modify the robot’s ‘bedside manner’. “Zhe stab wound from zhe Raider nearly punctured your diaphragm and was on zhe way to your lungs. You were very lucky Monsieur Deacon was right zhere at zhe time.” Deacon was now off next with Cait going over lists, but Nora knew the man was listening in.

 

“I do recall telling him to be at my back during my little speech. Seems like he was the one laaaaate,” Nora glared at the spy, who had the good grace to nod and give her a salute that she was right. “I also recall mentioning that Nisha was the one to look out for, but nooooooo one listens to the woman who has actually been around the fucking Raiders for two weeks. Nope, no one listens at allllll,” Nora dug her face into the pillow and grumbled some more. Muffled, thanks to the pillow, she asked, “All the other parks cleared?”

 

“There is not a single one of those animals left in this place. Valentine and Garvey sequestered off anyone else who wished to surrender. Everyone else has been taken care of, including burning the bodies.” Danse rumbled by her feet, and Nora was glad she had a cover over her currently curling toes. Jesus, even injured, tired and semi-dosed up, his voice did _bad_ things to her. “The Minutemen, Garvey, Piper and Strong will be heading back to the Common Wealth in the morning. All of the Raiders have been assigned their settlements as per your orders, Paladin.”

 

“Got to say, I’m curious about something, princess,” She felt John’s weight on the other side of the ‘queen’ bed; she also heard Danse’s growl at the action. “What’s with the old man? You were ready to kill the others in a heartbeat, but you treated him real nice.” Nora growled herself; what in the hell was it with her friends being so damn perceptive? If it wasn’t Hancock, it was Nick. If it wasn’t either of them, it was Deacon. Sighing, Nora rolled her face out of the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. “Felt bad. He’s been with me for the whole two weeks. Kept people off me, made the Raiders respect me. Hell… he told me his whole story and I just feel bad. He trusted me.”

 

“The man was nothing, scum for what he has done to the people of the Common Wealth. There is no need for you to feel sorry for someone like that. He made his decision before you came here, Paladin.” Danse, in all of his brisk-nature glory, summed up what was obviously the common idea based on all the nods that followed.

 

Nora stayed very quiet for a few more moments, before moving to sit up. She hissed and both Mac and Hancock were there to help her do so. “So let me get this right: I can have a merc,” points to a surprised Mac, “ Two chem-heads,” John cocks a brow and Cait shrinks slightly behind Deacon, “A soldier who is from the most racist group of people I’ve ever met, and I am Pre-war,” Danse sits up straight, “ a spy and liar who I still cannot get his full name out of,” Deacon eyebrow went up too, “A previously suicidal militia man, a 100 year old detective, a hyped-up reporter and a super mutant in my company. I can have them as my friends and family, people I want to work with to help. People I have travelled all over these damn Wastes for just so they can get clean, find a cure, find new leases on life and that’s perfectly fine. But it is a problem that I want to help a group of Raiders turn into decent human beings? Stop. the. fucking. presses.” Nora scowled at each of them and was very happy to see them take her words to heart. She tried to move herself to lean back into her headboard, making a grunt as Mac helped.

 

“And that is why you are a great woman, Boss. You tell it like it is,” Mac gave her a small guilty grin, and Nora smiled back. She raised her good side’s hand to pet between his eyes at those almost permanent frown lines. “I do have my moments, don’t I? Any other complaints?” Nora asked in her singing tone that told them she was not open for debates.

 

“Not a complaint, just a request. Get some sleep, princess.” Hancock grinned and patted her good knee as he stood up. “Off to find that magician again. You said you wanted him in Kiddie World?” The ghoul put his hat back on before popping a couple of Mentats from his stores, much to Cait’s displeasure.

 

“Yes, please, if you can. It’s been his home for 200 years; it wasn’t right to ask him to leave. Thanks, Hancock.” The Mayor winked, blew a kiss and headed out. Nora looked at Mac next who pulled out a list. “Got a couple of people who look like solid traders. Won’t deal with human trade and make trips to the Caps once in awhile. The others are all up to trading with your settlements, boss.” Nora smiled and looked over the list, before looking up to Danse, Deacon and Cait.

 

“The Nuka-Gen replicator is an amazing piece of technology. You are right; it could change the face of the Wastelands as a whole. People would not have to work as hard for food. But there are still too many unknowns at this time. If it is possible, we should transport the machine to the Castle. It would also have to be under intense guard; it would be too enticing for… certain people.” Danse offered and pointed to a stack of holotapes and papers on the table. Nora nodded; something like this would be stolen by Maxson and crew.

 

Nora pushed off of Mac and gently wiggled herself deeper into the bed. “ _Now we just have to find some chickens to clone.” She mused as she rested her eyes._

 

 

 

Nora shook her head at the memories while she followed behind Mason and Gage and directed them to the atrium where a good few of her crew was waiting. Danse was suited up with light weight armor and a ‘quiver’ for lack of a Wasteland term, of guns that could easily be draped over the shoulder of a set of Power Armor. Preston was out of his full Minutemen coat, but was still showing their colors with a holster vest that doubled as armor. Deacon was in some farm hand clothes, but since he was still next to moundsssss of laundry, Nora guessed he’d stay behind. Next to him was Cait and next to her happened to be a very pretty black-haired, willow thin woman. Ohhhhh… maybe later she’d get a chance to properly introduce herself. MacCready was cleaning and adjusting his scope and Nora noticed a box of armor piercing rounds. Not their cheapest, but could be very effective. Hancock was pulling on his boots and when he saw Nora looking, he flashed his tongue, which held a pair of Mentat tablets. “Starting the day sober, Mayor? I’m shocked,” Nora beamed at the smart-ass smirk she was given before pulling a ‘come hither’ between the ghoul and whistling Mac over. The two men quickly joined her and she waved towards the Raiders. “Gentlemen, you will be watching Gage for the day,” that got their attention. “Gage will be there to help MacCready spot any targets while Hancock will be there as cover fire in case the Cap Deathclaws know how to climb. Also, I trust Hancock to not get pissed off as easily.”

 

“Hey now,” Mac scowled, and Nora cocked her brow. “So you _didn’t_ rifle butt that one Child of Atom in the back of his head for dissing your hat?” Hancock snickered with a wheeze and Mac’s scowl deepened; Nora started to reach up for those little frown lines, only for him to catch her hand. “I’ll watch him, boss.” MacCready walked off with his hat pulled down move over his face.

 

“Hancock?” John smiled back at Nora as he fished out a cigarette. “No worries on my end, princess. Make sure he doesn’t try to kill the kid or me and make sure he is useful. Giving him a gun?” The ghoul blew his smoke above both of their heads and Nora thought on it. She tapped her fingers to her lips as she calculated the pros and cons of giving Gage a gun. It took her a bit to notice Hancock’s staring with his cigarette half burnt away. Nora snorted, Hancock blinked, and sucked a fresh mouth of smoke in. “What is it about my lips, Hancock?” Nora spoke each word slowly, even pulling her bottom lip down slightly to tease.

 

“Sinful mouth like that does amazing things to sinful men, princess,” Hancock blew out his smoke again, before lashing out an arm around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. Nora giggled and hugged the flirt. She kissed his ruined temple, squeezed once more before extracting herself. “Do your best to behave, and get Gage a long scope. Something that he’ll have a tough time turning on you and Mac.” Hancock nodded and turned to leave… only to be stopped when he felt his hat being removed from his head. Nora twisted the tricorn in her hands before speaking, “A little puppy told me a certain ghoul isn’t very good at keeping his mouth shut,” Nora sang, and Hancock did his best, which wasn’t very good, to keep a poker face. “So that certain ghoul is _not_ getting his hat today,” Nora tossed it over her shoulder. The quick ‘Hey’ from Deacon made her grin before continuing, “And any chems we happen to find today are _not_ going into a certain ghoul’s pockets for his personal use.” That brought out a rather dangerous looking scowl from the ghoul and Nora beamed. “Such,” Nora’s hand smoothed up Hancock’s arm from elbow to shoulder. “A,” now her fingers traced gently over the pitted marks on his neck. “Pity,” and lastly, she clunked him under the chin, walking away. A rumbling growl from the man made her shiver and walk away just a touch faster. 


	6. Chapter 6

She was going to murder them.

 

“ _There'll be fifteen minutes of kissin',”_ Hancock was singing raspy under his breath. Not truly under his breath, but that kind of ‘I want you to hear me, but pretending I don’t’. Despite the radiation damage to his voice, and the 15 million cigarettes a day that didn’t help, it's a surprisingly soothing sound. Except this was the third ‘racy’ song in a row that he had sung. Nora knew who the songs were directed to, too.

 

It started as they were loading up the day. All the weapons were in a tightly locked truck with Nora having the only key. Gage, Mason and everything for a hard day was loaded up into a wagon. Nora put on her armor set from yesterday for the walk with her heavy set in the trunk. Nora gave Mason the eye shadow he used yesterday and he was dressed and ready for the day. Gage was easy to dress; standard metal armor with soft leather connections and his sunglasses and a black baseball hat. Curie said the infection seemed to have slowed and the cut was mending nicely.  Curie had also given Nora a dose of a stimpack and Nora’s wounds, bullet hole, hickeys and her own bites, healed and smoothed before her eyes. She had no doubts there would be fresh wounds soon, though.

  
Hancock and MacCready took the driver’s seats while Preston sat in the back, back against their seats, with the Raiders. Their bomb collar remotes were in easy reach of the Minuteman should either even moved funny. Strong, very much excited to be off on a smashing trip, was decked out in the leg and arm plates Nora had found in the different Super Mutant hives in the Boston ruins. His new board, completely sharpened, was strapped over his shoulder while his minigun and box of ammo were cross-strapped to his hip. He stomped on the left side of the wagon. Danse, in his newly painted Common Brotherhood power armor, was walking on the right side with her. He politely kept pace with her as she worked her Pipboy to let the Three Dog station play on all the mini coms. It allowed for some gentle background music; there were actually a few different tracks.

 

Then Preston made the fatal mistake of forgetting who was in their company.

“That’s pretty impressive, General,” Preston mentioned offhandedly, turning the volume up on his mini.

 

Nora only paid attention to the comment because she saw MacCready and Hancock turned to each other and smirk. She felt a chill go down her back, and she readied herself to defend her Lieutenant. But for a while nothing happened. Then _Rocket 69_ came on. Hancock’s arm fell back and rested on Preston’s head as he started singing. Preston was too surprised at the contact to recognize the show of ‘Alpha’ at first. Then Mac joined in. Horrible; off key and no rhyme, but it just made a bigger show. Preston caught on fast after Mac added in and shoved Hancock’s arm away before doing his best to ignore the ghoul.

 

And they just. kept. _goinggggggg._

 

 “ _Then you'll holler ‘Please don't stop’”_

 “Don’t stop!” Mac’s voice splintered her inner calm, and a snarl finally broke from behind her teeth.

 

Yes, she was going to _murder_ them.

 

“ _There'll be fifteen minutes of teasin'… fifteen minutes of squeezin'… and fifteen minutes of blowin' my top_ ” The two took turns with the lyrics, ramping up their volume until they belted the last part together.

 

“JESUS TAP DANCING CHRIST, WOULD YOU TWO SHUT IT?!” Nora bellowed, feeling the blood pound through her body as she stressed all over. She out right _growled_ as the two smoking idiots looked over at her. Hancock acted like he had no idea what she was talking about and Mac gave her ‘I am enjoying being an ass right now’ grin.

 

“Haven’t heard that one in a while. I know ghouls can’t normally sing, princess, but to swear at us like that,” Hancock tsked his tongue. “I’ve been told I am lovely to listen to.” Nora was not going to show how much she agreed with that. “Can’t say the same for the kid, but he’s tryin’” Mac scowled at the ghoul’s profile.

 

“I agree. Your off key and unwelcome medley is likely to attract unwanted attention to our location. Robert is the only one remotely familiar with this area. It would be unwise to continue. Not to mention it is harmful to everyone’s ears in general.” Danse spoke with his chin slightly raised, like he was speaking to children. They certainly were acting like it. Nora’s tension eased with Danse’s calm lecture. He was the one she could count on to keep a level head.

 

“The attempts to agitate Garvey are obvious. Your jealousy over Nora choosing him over a ghoul and are mercenary are unfounded. There is no way an intelligent woman like her would rendezvous with either of you.”

 

Nora’s knees became weak at the word jealousy, buckling at ‘rendezvous’, which led to her foot connecting with a crack in the ground, and her face planting in the dirt. And she laid there.

 

That was all of them. Even the Raiders knew now about Preston and her. Could some cosmic force of the Wastes please kill her now?

 

She listened as the wagon pulled to a stop, though the roarish laughter nearly overshadowed it. Hancock and Mac laughed until they were short of breath, she swore she heard Mason in the mix too. A fourth voice, trying to be stifled, was around, but it wasn’t Danse or Preston. Now, just when did Dee climb into the wagon?! Fuck that StealthBoy.

 

Danse had quickly walked back to her side and took a knee while sounds of someone jumping from the wagon and rushing over meant that Preston was near. Their concern did nothing to calm the embarrassment inside of her.

 

Or the panic… or bloodlust.

 

Taking a deep breath, Nora hopped up, nodded to Preston and Danse, but stepped out of their helpful reach. Strong had stopped and was coming over to her side, but he stopped short at her face.

 

Rage and shame filled Nora like it hadn’t in centuries and she stomped ahead of everyone, working to ignore all calls for her to stop. Preston caught up with her, though, gently taking her forearm. “General, it’s not safe.” Nora didn’t look at him, feeling herself vibrate with anger. “Wave Strong over, Preston. The three of us are moving ahead. Give the remote to Deacon. He’s somewhere in the wagon; I _heard_ him.” She saw Preston watching her from the corner of her eye; he was trying to get her to look at him. She wasn’t interested. She wasn’t mad at Preston, but long held shame made her refuse his eye.

 

_‘You’ve heard about Nora, right? “Won’t say No-Nora”?’_

_‘I hear he had No-Nora behind the seats at the game last night.’_

_‘Did you hear? Ms. Richmond High School slut was seen coming out of the janitor’s closet._

 

The tension continued to build in her body and she couldn’t stand still anymore. She slipped her arm from his grip and started off at a brisk stomp. “STRONG! FOLLOW LEADER!” She didn’t look back as the heavy feet soon caught up with her, Preston catching up to her right side a few moments later.

 

It wasn’t like they were much faster than the wagon, but the men in the wagon were smart enough to not say anything. Well, at least smart enough to not be _heard_.

 

And then there was Strong.

 

“Why leader angry at males?” God bless the mutant; sometimes straight forward questions were so refreshing.

 

“It’s like you said Strong. Soft woman make men go crazy.” Nora threw her arms up at the word crazy. “Except Preston. Preston is still sane.” Nora caught the Minuteman’s eye briefly before giving him a tight smile. Strong gave a rumbling growl and stopped and made a move to walk back. “No, Strong, Leader will smash later. Strong needs to stay with Leader, understood?”  The mutant grumbled something like ‘starting to sound like mutant’ as he moved with her.

 

It was about another 30 minutes of walking, and steaming on Nora’s end, in silence before they reached an overlooking hill.  ‘Old Olney registered’ was announced in her ear by the robotic PipBoy voice. It was a small town pre-bombs, becoming even smaller with the number of things destroyed. Typical Wasteland destruction of rusted and turned over cars, buildings crumbled into rubble and _leaves_! How did _leaves_ survive intact after dying centuries ago? How in the hell did that make any sense… and that was the fifth time in just this trip Nora tried to make sense of the nonsense. Looking at the buildings they did have to work with, the tallest surviving structure was actually right next to them. It was in the center of the town with two roads on either side.  A few voices rang out behind her, but Nora was still scouting, and she felt her jaw fall at the symbol next to the left road. Brotherhood. Had they been here recently? Nora’s back tensed up with more stress; the last thing she wanted was to put Danse and Hancock out there. No matter how pissed she was.

 

“I joined the Brotherhood just after they left here,” Danse was behind her now, likely following her gaze. “I understand that a piece of the Prydwen was found here. Everything of value to the Brotherhood would have been cataloged already; they are very unlikely to return.”

 

Nora took a deep breath and turned to her Paladin and gave him a strained grin. “That’s good to know. No matter what happens, I don’t want you or Hancock in their line of sight.” Nora took in the tense neck of the soldier as he swallowed harshly. “Nora, I am sorry. I was not thinking of the ramifications of admitting I knew of your rendezvous with Garvey. I feel I should congratulate you on finding a worthy companion after the numerous ordeals you have had to suffer. However, my timing was very poor, considering we have… unwanted company at this time.” Nora watched the different muscles flex from his stress. Danse was admitting a flaw, and getting flushed and adorable while doing so. Course, this put a different kind of pressure on her and Preston. Nora caught sight of Preston darkening and throwing a couple of quick glances her way while Danse was talking.

 

“Paladin, I appreciate your apology. Yes, Preston and I had… a night of fun. At this point, Preston and I need to have some _private_ time to discuss a further relationship. That will be our business. But, for now, I am going to address all of you. Follow me, gentlemen.” Nora led them back to the wagon.

 

Hancock and MacCready had the decency to look a bit guilty. Deacon, gun in hand and in-between the Raiders, was keeping his shaded eyes down on the boards. Mason was now spotting a freshly cut lip. Looks like someone had protected her honor, after they had ruined it.

 

Nora made no motion of hearing Hancock’s gentle ‘Princess’, Mac’s more pronounced ‘Boss’ or even acknowledging Deacon’s person as she hopped into the wagon. Gage watched her and Mason scoffed low, before licking his cut lip as she reached between them for the gear. Pulling the key from beneath her bra strap, she cracked the truck open. Next, she unfastened Gage’s handcuffs, then Mason’s. She wasn’t surprised when Mason placed his hand on her upper arm and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “That how you got to be General? Bet your pussy was sore from those 60 Minutemen.” Nora nearly slammed her knee into the man’s nose, but with a breath, she controlled herself. “No, Mason. Not everyone needs to lay on their backs to get into a position of power. It worked out well for you though.”

 

She ignored the Raider’s snarling cussing and reached into the truck and pulled out a decent assault rifle. She crouched down to a still sitting Gage and they watched each other for a moment. “If you think for a second you can aim this gun at me, and not get my guys’ attention, you seriously underestimate our work together.” Gage’s lip twitched for a moment, like he wanted to argue, but he kept still. Nora nodded and passed him the gun and a box of ammo. She quickly stripped out of the light armor and redressed in her heavier stuff. Today she’d be carrying her favorite recon combat shotgun, her explosive rounds 10 mm, Cito’s Shiny Slugger, and a very familiar .44 pistol. She slipped that one in the left of her holster, and fought against a wave of nausea when thinking of its previous owner. Pickman’s blade stayed in its sheath against her right calf. She pulled the shotgun to rest on her shoulder as she hopped back out of the wagon.

 

“Hancock, Mac and Gage will go into that larger building. I’m giving you three 10 minutes to get to the top and in position. 15 if I start hearing shots fly. Danse, Deacon and Mason will take the road on the left. Clear everything, but keep on the lookout for food, chems and any glue. Lord knows how long our store of glue will hold out. Strong and Preston will be with me on the right side of town.” Nora said all of this from ahead of the wagon with her back towards the men. A couple more deep breaths, and she finally had her temper and confidence in enough check to turn towards them. “I guess I need to explain a few things to you gentlemen.”

 

Keeping her face to them, she took a few steps back and opened her arms in dramatic fashion. “Gentlemen, you are looking at the one and only Richmond High School slut,” Hancock’s face lit up in a savage snarl and Nora listened to him say ‘who the fuck called you that? I’m gonna kill ‘em.’  while Mac voiced confusion about ‘what is high school’?

 

 “I was called ‘Won’t say No-Nora’ because I slept with my then boyfriend exactly one time. Just in case you fellows don’t know, sex before marriage was a huge no-no in a lot of the pre-bomb world. For the rest of my school life, I was the ‘whore’, ‘slut’, ‘skank’ etc., all because I trusted someone with my body and emotions.” Nora hid her pain behind a joking smile, and flourished her hands out here and there to add to her story. “I swear, if it hadn’t been for Nat-” Nora’s throat seized up around the name of her husband and best friend. She tried to swallow the name down and rubbed at her voice box. Jesus, even 60 years, or 6 months, depending on who you ask, later she couldn’t talk about him.

 

Coughing and freeing her voice again, she continued. “Took me another 6 years to have sex again, and that was a drunk one night stand. Turns out the guy was the boss of the law firm I was interviewing for, so I lost the job before I even started it. I had one more one night stand before I turned 29 and that was horrible. At 30, I got married and during those three years, I had sex exactly 4 times.” Nora cocked a brow as she let them all do the math. Preston dropped a rifle he was holding and Danse nearly dropped his. MacCready was completely gaping, Hancock had bitten through his cigarette and his black eyes were a mix of disbelief and pissed off while Deacon was pinching the bridge of his nose and taking steady breaths through it. “Yes, gentlemen, that is a grand total of seven. 7 times I had sex, pre-bombs. Is your curiosity sated? Cause that almost as many times as I have had since waking up in the Wastes. Hell, I have had all my trysts since getting back from Nuka.” Nora held up her hand with her five fingers extended. “Got into Diamond City, helped Nicky and Piper win the election, got drunk and took Yefim into a room.” Nora pulled down a finger. “Course that was _after_ Piper tried getting me in bed, and I tried to get Nick into mine. Didn’t work out for either of us,” Many wide eyes met hers at that tidbit of info.

 

“It’s the accent, isn’t it?” Hancock asked, his voice sultry to tease, but his face showed his inner storm.

 

“That and, you know, a general nice guy who wants to change the world. Still can’t remember much with Yefim, but he confirmed, several times, that he went with me willingly. After that was Sturges for a shower quickie,” Nora pulled down another finger, flushing slightly at Preston’s surprised face. “Preston, as now _everyone_ knows… oh and Deacon last night, though I guess he got back into bed just fine.” Nora pulled down two more fingers as she cocked her hip and stared down the Railroad spy. That last bit obviously floored everyone, even Gage’s eye widened at that. Danse glared at the spy like he was the lowest form of dirt. Preston was blinking rapidly to take that in; Nora prayed Preston hadn’t given up his heart already. Mac was still gaping like a fish and Hancock fished out a tin of Mentats to get a hit. Deacon stared back at her.

 

“So yes, three humans and a synth… yup, a Synth. Sturges is a… yes, Sturges is a Synth, Preston.” Nora gave a half smile at the bewildered man. “K8-23. He had a memory wipe 6 years ago. Doesn’t know; don’t tell him.” Nora started to pace now. No matter how well she played the ‘Not affecting me’ role with her words and voice, it really _really_ was. “And I don’t feel bad about any of them.” Nora spoke with a finality that she normally reserved for others. “Well, I wish I remembered more with Yefim, but I don’t regret. I grew up in a time and place where women having sex with anyone beside their husbands was the _greatest_ scandal. It lost you jobs, friends and even family.” Nora’s fist had started to curl at the mention of family; her mom’s parents were in that group. “Not only that… women weren’t supposed to _enjoy_ sex. Even with her husband. Women who enjoyed sex, or god forbid, orgasmed during sex, well, they were just as big a slut as one who had sex before marriage.” Nora stared up at the sky to try to stop her eyes from getting too wet. “So, yeah, after being called a whore, slut and what not for well over a decade, I didn’t think I’d basically get called the same in the Wastes. Least of all by my friends. But if my having sex is going to disturb you lot, I’ll just have to wait until we are back in the Wealth.” Nora slammed the shotgun up and down, cocking the weapon. “Course, if you lot actually _grow_ some, you could try seducing me too.” Nora beamed and watch their eyes as her offer sank in. Grabbing Preston’s hand, she tapped Strong’s arm with the shotgun and she lead them down to the right road. She knew that the others would take their positions.

 

Nora settled between Preston and Strong, and breathed deep through her nose and out again. That had felt… somewhat unburdening, though she sure wished she hadn’t needed to do that. After a few more moments, she caught sight of Hancock, Mac and Gage running into the building. She startled when Preston cleared his throat and their eyes met. “Preston… I…” another deep breath through her nose. “I am sorry I had to drag you into that mess. I am just tired of their… bullshit. So what if they heard us having fun? It’s not their damn business. And I-”

 

Preston stopped her by pulling her into a gentle hug. Oh damn, Preston never offered physical contact. Nora leaned into the groove of his neck and sighed in relief. “I’m so thankful to have you, Preston.” Nora looped her arms around his waist and pulled him a little tighter. They stayed like that for a little bit, but then Preston kissed her behind the ear, making her squeak/giggle/ and squirm slightly. “Preston Garvey, you tease.” Nora pulled her face back and grinned at the Minuteman who was flushed but smiling at her. “That took a lot of guts, ma’am. It took a lot to defend yourself in your time and it took just as much to take them on.” Preston nodded his head toward the rest of their crew. “I doubt they meant to tease you though.”

 

“Hey, it takes two to tango, Lt. If Hancock is ragging on you for getting some, he’s basically doing it to both of us. By the way, it’s been 10 minutes. Are they up there?” Nora mused and looked behind and grinned at the sight of the three taking their places on the roof. From the glint being reflected down on her, Mac had his binoculars out. A wicked idea crossed her mind and she jerked her face back to Preston. He looked at her questioningly until she bit her lower lip and wiggled her eyebrows. He blinked before grinning at her. Tapping his hat up with his thumb, he reached up along her cheek with his gloved hand. His fingers smoothed down her neck and around to cup the back. They moved together, Nora’s eyes closing before their lips met. Nora quickly sighed happily as Preston kissed her, bring her arms up to circle his neck. It was slow and mostly gentle, with just a bit more bite than he had used before. Nora shivered and clung to him a bit more, opening her lips to run her tongue along his-

 

“Leader and human are breeding?” Strong’s voice made the two of them jump, but they kept their arms around each other. Nora snorted hard and pecked Preston’s lips once more before letting go. “Breeding isn’t the right word, Strong. We are ‘enjoying each other’s company’. Breeding is the word when you are trying for children.” Preston stiffened as if he just realized that might be a possibility. “‘Coupling’ is also ok, ‘friends with benefits’… well, there were always benefits for being friends with Preston.” Nora beamed at the flustered Minutemen, giving him another peck. “Alright Strong, let’s go kick some-”

 

A blast from a certain highly modified sniper rifle sounded toward the center of town. Strong gave a battle cry and took off ahead of them. Nora snorted and properly gripped her shotgun before taking off after him. Clear the enemies, then check for goodies.

 

And god almighty, did she hate the Wasteland. It wasn’t a Deathclaw Mac was taking shots at. It was a pack of Ferals.

 

Ferals were ghouls who had lost all form of thought. Nora had blasted and cut open enough to know the damage; large holes had rotted through what was left of their brains. The chances of turning into a ghoul versus simply dying from radiation were small. The chance of those ghouls turning into a feral was much higher by comparison.

 

Add into that the fact that HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of people had been exposed to the bombs 210 years ago, and other forms of radiation since, meant there was likely never going to be an end to them.

 

Killing Ferals was a mercy to Nora. She had seen how her great-grandfather had slowly lost his mind. Yes, a mercy.

 

Strong barreled forward into the pack, his tooth board and strength sending at least four of the Ferals flying. Nora quickly climbed on top of some decently tall rubble and took out her 10 mm. Entering VATs, she took aim at the ones on the outside of the pack, lining up explosive headshots with eerie accuracy. Preston climbed up on a car, took a knee for stability and took long shots at the back of the pack. The dozen or so zombies crumbled, but Nora still heard Mac’s gun going, along with a second rifle, overhead. “Reload before moving!” Nora shouted, not even needing to look if Preston was doing so.

 

Slapping her own fresh clip in, and getting the next one ready, Nora moved to meet up with Pres-    and blasted a legless Feral that had been crawling towards his car. Jesus, the damn things were a pain in the-      Nora froze as a beam of laser blasted next to her left leg, followed by a gurgling. “Good lord, am I happy I have you.” Nora beamed as Preston jumped down next to her, giving her a matching smile. The two moved slowly through the rubble and cars, aiming their weapons around corners and watching their steps until they reached Strong. The super mutant shook some bits of gore from his board, but was looking quite a bit happier already. “Let’s start checking the buildings, guys. Brotherhood or not, there should be some bits and pieces we can use.”

 

“Why Leader always want small things? Leader have good weapons.” Strong grumbled like normal.

 

“Strong, I need small things to _make_ good weapons. Just like your… what in the nine rings of hell is that sound?”

 

Preston tensed with her as she listened in; everyone trusted her ears. It wasn’t the sound of Feral digging their way out of trash and from under cars. There was no gurgling. Not radroaches; you could hear their joints click and bend as they moved. Not those _god awful_ mole rats with their chittering and scratching and ohsweetbabyJesus EWW! It was just the irony of the Waste; making the woman who was deathly scared of mice and rats fight Labrador sized rodents. Not a Deathclaw; their roars carried for miles.

 

This was… deeper?

 

Nora knelt down and pressed her hand to the ruined pavement. She ‘felt’ the sound. It was like… Nora remembered when Nate’s battalion marched in a parade before. The sound and feeling of 50 soldiers marching together along with 5 people in power armor…

 

“Something big is around here… I think it’s underground.” The feeling was getting further away from them, but Nora scanned the road for manhole covers or ladders. Seeing none, she stood up slowly. “Are Deathclaws known to move _away_ from noise?” Nora glanced back at Preston as she holstered her 10 mm and brought back her shotgun. “They never have for me.”

 

“I have never heard of them doing that either. Course, the first one I saw in person was the one you saved us from in Concord.” Preston gave a half-smile.

 

Nora gave a shudder.

 

 

 

 

_‘This is what I get for helping people!!’_

_‘I just had to get caught up in a fire fight!’ Nora screamed at herself while in the Power Armor_.

 

A fire fight. A goddamn fire fight!! In the middle of Concord?! What the hell was wrong with these people? Who just shoots at someone trying to defend other people?

 

 

Who was she to shoot them?

 

Her stomach rolled and curled again and she was so glad she had already vomited before meeting Preston and the others. She had never aimed a gun at anything other than the paper targets Nate gave her. And those ungodly huge bugs that had invested the Vault and the neighborhood. Or worse, those horrible _horrible_ mutant rat things. She was so glad the dog was an effective killer as she had climbed one of the street lights to escape. But still; nothing human!

 

 

She aimed the rolling minigun at the… Raider? Preston gave them a very disturbing name; making them sound like a group, and a common one at that. The blood and dirt covered woman was aiming at her with a feeble wooden gun that barely pinged her suit. The minigun’s bullets ripped through her torso like she was paper, while blood, and guts and…

 

  
Nora pulled away from the edge of the roof, wrenched off her helmet and vomited bile down the chest plate. Her throat burned from bile and the tears that were streaming down her face. Was this what Nate went through? Having to watch a fellow human be ripped apart? Couldn’t they just leave her and the others-

 

She winced and crouched down some as a clap of thunder sounded from the balcony next to her. Preston’s laser weapon was nearly as loud as her minigun. Nora moved to wipe her mouth, her head jerking away from the metal hand that came up. No, no matter how much she wanted to stop this, those… people below were obviously out for blood. Growling through her teeth and blowing her nose clear-her grandmother’s voice sounded a ‘how unladylike’ as she did- she pulled the helmet back on. Her PipBoy interfaced with the helmet’s internal system again and showed her at least 6 other people down there.

 

Obviously, if a woman with a machine-gun and a man with a thunder laser were not deterring them to run, then the only option left was to fight. To fight for the innocent.

 

Nora strolled over to the edge again, remembering that Nate promised over and over that Power armor could take falls from over 10 stores, closed her eyes and left herself fall off the edge. She heard the wind whistle past, but the landing itself felt like stepping down a single stair… with the procession of a smashed car under her frame. Stepping _out_ of the destroyed car, she lifted the minigun just a bit higher and yelled at the people.

 

“If you want to live, just leave us alone!!” Nora screamed at them. She shuddered and fresh tears welled up in her eyes as the people just laughed and said the same back to her, much more crudely. One of the laughing one got blasted full in the face by Preston’s laser, and the rest of the body crumbled.

 

Well, fine then.

 

Nora started the minigun up again and aimed it at the two on her right. In a hail of bullets the two were quickly shredded to pieces. Her armor warned her of incoming impact from behind and she hissed as the bat connected with her helmet. No immediate damage, but she felt her brain rattle. Just as she turned to fight the person, Dogmeat came snapping at his calf, pulling the flesh and muscle away.

 

Dogmeat… seriously, who the hell names their dog Dogm-

 

“Eeeeeeat,” Nora voiced the last of her thought as a second raider threw a flaming bottle of booze right at her feet. The bottle shattered and the burning alcohol wormed its way into the 210 year old damage on the soles, causing her shoes to heat up. Nora slammed the weight of the minigun and her arm into the woman before punching through her head with about 50 bullets.

 

A barrage of bullets sent warnings and lights into her vision about the armor’s left arm. Her bullets, and a few laser blasts, quickly dealt with the leader of the Raiders’ leader and the one that had been de-fleshed by Dogm-

 

Nora froze on all fronts as an Earth cracking _roar_ echoed down Main Street. A grate on her right was being thrust up and open by a gigantic clawed and scaled hand. The creature that followed the hand had to be well over 10 feet tall and looked like a demon had gotten busy with a dinosaur.

 

And it. Was. **_Pissed_**.

 

Ok, the old lady upstairs just got some brownie points, as Nora turned the minigun on the beast. Oh, great, it’s _fast_ too, though Nora as the thing crouched down and ran at her on its four clawed limbs. It swung its right hand out and slapped her chest plate. Warnings of critical damage immediately rang up in her vision, but Nora tried to keep the gun on its throat and belly. Her VATs interface was telling her it was only being damaged a little bit, no matter how fast she fired the rounds. Just as it reared back to slap at her again, Preston’s rifle caught it in the eye, blinding and pissing it off more than hurting it. Nora ran for a mostly broken building, trying to exchange her gun’s ammo for the fresh box while doing so. She got the ammo in, but then the beast slapped down on her already damaged left side, snapping the arm’s armor off the frame. She tried to enter VATs again, but the creature moved out of her line of sight.

 

‘Spray and pray’ popped up in her mind as she pulled the gun back to life, trying to hit somewhere that hurt the dinosaur. Another slap of the claws and Nora was sent flying into the car she landed on earlier. Her left leg was now at 13% and ready to pop off. Dogmeat danced around the beast, trying to get its attention off her. Nora needed something better, needed to slow it down… and she had a _stupid_ idea. With the suit so damaged it probably wouldn’t work, but desperate times and all that.

 

She turned her attention to the car and gripped into its roof and hood, actually denting in 5 perfect finger holes into the front. As she strained, her suit spun warnings all over, her left leg gave way and her torso started to develop cracks. But she got old, rusty heap up…

 

“DOGMEAT, MOVE!!” Nora screamed and carried the command into a battle cry as she spun around and threw the car right into the thing’s face. Both the car and the creature bent into each other, but there was more weight and force behind the car. With a sickening snap, the creature’s left horn cracked off and whole neck was now at an unholy angle. The beast gave a mournful death rattle as it collapsed forward, while the car landed on top of it.

 

And then there were no sounds except her and Dogmeat panting.

 

Nora pulled the ejection handle from the right rib side of the suit, gasping in relief to be free of it. The smell of death, blood, bile and gunpowder assaulted her nose to the point she threw up some fresh bile of her own. She was shaking like a leaf outside of the suit, adrenaline having done its job in keeping her alive and moving. She panted, and gagged, as she held onto the armor’s back. After a few moments of calm, she looked over at the beast again. Based on the blood pooling out of its mouth, it was definitely dead. She’d killed it…

 

Holy shit, she killed a dinosaur.

 

Nora broke into schoolgirl-ish giggles; this is the kind of stuff you read about it little kids’ books. The heroine fought and slew the mighty dragon. What a story to tell Shaun… when Nora got him back.

 

With the worst of the shakes done, and Dogmeat pushing his fluffy head into her other hand, Nora walked back into the museum. She was still trying to stifle her giggles as Preston met her.

 

“That was… one of the most amazing things I have ever seen,” the man was looking at her like she was a goddess sent from heaven. That just got Nora to giggle more, and overwhelmed by it all, she half-hugged, half-tackled the ‘Minuteman’. “I KILLED A DINOSAUR!!” Nora squealed in between her giggles.

 

It took a bit for her to notice what she had just done, and she pulled herself away with a horrified gasp. She had just hugged a man _without permission_! And from the way his muscles had tensed under her arms, it was _completely_ unwelcome. Years of ‘lessons’ and ‘education’ from her grandmother and grandfather had given Nora the ‘proper woman’ training that was needed for her time. While she had always been a naturally friendly and touchy person, there was no place in society for such a woman. Nora took three solid steps back from Preston, clasped her right hand over her left, and rested the two in front of her. “I am so sorry about that, Mr. Garvey. That was no way for me to act on your person.”

 

Preston looked a bit bewildered, but finally gave her a smile. “It’s alright, ma’am. Though it’s not called a dinosaur, whatever that is, in these parts. It’s known as a Deathclaw, and that was the first time I’ve been one in person. They really do look like something that crawled out of hell. Well, based on the pictures of hell that survived the war. Anyway,” Present shouldered his gun to the other side, offering Nora his hand. Nora smiled- not too much, remembering her manners- and took it with a solid shake. “That was, again, amazing. You helped us out of a real bind. Not many people help out a group of others they just met. Here,” Preston offered her a few fusion cells for the ‘musket’ she had pulled from the ‘Minuteman’ outside and a small bag of… coins from the sound of it. Nora slipped them both into the small carry belt she had found in the vault. She jumped slightly as the PipBoy’s holoscreen came up over her left eye, showing her that the little bag held 100… bottle caps! Nora had to bite her tongue against the number of questions she had. Women did not appear ungrateful when presented with a gift, and they especially didn’t phrase their questions like ‘What the fucking hell?’

 

 

“Actually… I know I’ve already asked a lot of you, but we are heading to a place that Mama Murphy has ‘seen’. Called Sanctuary,” Nora’s eyes flashed up to Preston’s, blinking again as the holoscreen retreated. “Do you know about it?” Nora gave the man a bittersweet smile as she nodded.

 

 

“Yes, Mr. Garvey. I know about it. Its full name is Sanctuary Hills. It was a nice neighbor before the bombs fell. My old car is still parked in my driveway, if you can believe that,” Nora watched as confusion, bewilderment and finally amazed understanding crossed over Preston’s face.

 

“You’re… Pre-war?!” Preston openly gaped at her. Nora pulled up an eyebrow before nodding. She really wouldn’t call what happened a ‘war’. Wars had a victor. “Damn… you have got to be the best looking pre-war ghoul I have ever met.” Nora gasped at the comment; that was extremely forward of the man.

 

“Mr. Garvey, while I appreciate the ‘best looking’ part of your comment,” Preston floundered and Nora mentally giggled at the darkening of his cheeks, “I am not a ‘ghoul’. You mentioned how ghouls are irradiated people. I have not been around much radiation. The closest I got to large amounts of radiation was when the bomb fell. I didn’t see much; the lift to our Vault was already going down when it fell. My family and I were frozen; we… we were all frozen until recently. Someone… people, I don’t know who… they,” Nora’s chest began to tighten as tears began to well up in her eyes. Preston reacted, taking her gently by the arm and helping her sit down on a bench. Momma Murphy took her hand and squeezed it.

 

“They… opened Na… Nate’s tube. He was holding Shaun. They wanted Shaun… Na… he… my husband tried to fight them. They killed him!” Nora’s tears flowed with force now. Sturges came to Preston’s side and stood there in silent support. Even the Longs were turned in her direction; Jun’s face was streaked with his own tears while Marcie was still bitter, but her eyes now held a hint of empathy. “He was just trying to keep Shaun. Those… people… there isn’t a harsh enough word for them,” Nora knew of several she wanted to use, but not in company. “They took Shaun and left. I got out not long after, but I guess it was long enough. I haven’t found any evidence of them since waking up. It’s been…” Nora pulled up her left wrist and pushed the main screen. Down in the corner, the time read 4:48. “It’s been about 8 hours since I got out of the Vault.”

 

“You mean to tell me you’ve been on ice for 210 years and within the first eight hours, one of your first acts is to help a bunch of strangers fight off a load of raiders?!” Sturges asked, whistling low as Nora smiled softly at him.

 

“And kill a… ‘Deathclaw’?” Nora looked to Preston for confirmation on the name. He beamed and nodded. “I think that is a very suiting name for the creature.” All but Marcie gave some form of agreement. “Codsworth mentioned that there might be people in Concord. I… didn’t know where to go. I don’t know anything about this… world now. For all I know, Boston, D.C. hel-heck,” Nora clutched her mouth. OHH that was too close, but Preston just smiled and inclined his head to have her continue. “Excuse me. I know a few of the places that were hit before us, but I have no idea of their state. I’m… actually quite glad I ran in to help you,” Nora made sure to turn her eyes to each person, but focused on Preston.

 

“Hey, I’m a Minutemen. We help our friends, and ma’am, you just made a fast friend as far as I’m concerned. How about we all get to Sanctuary and from there, we’ll fill you in on everything we can.” Preston knelt down and took her hand and shook it, like they were swearing a deal. Nora smiled and shook back, brushing away her tears with the other hand.

 

“I’d love to hear more about the Pre-war world. Man, can you imagine? Back when them cars used to actually run?! Oh man, all the tech that you must have had at your fingertips. You ever see a friendly, working robot? Shit, damn near all the ones nowadays are out to kill you,” Sturges raved for a minute, not taking in Nora’s surprised expression. Well, guess she _really_ shouldn’t be surprised; Preston had already sworn, though Nora could forgive that one as she _had_ just killed a dinosaur/Deathclaw/ demon from hell.

 

Preston _did_ notice her face though, and shot a quick look to Sturges, who hushed though was obviously confused as to why. Nora offered up, “Yes, actually. Codsworth is my Mr. Handy from before the bombs. He’s actually still at my house… I feel horrible for the bot. 210 years alone… Listen, Preston,” the Minutemen’s back stiffened like he was expecting an order. “I have a second favor to ask. While we are at Sanctuary, please be nice to Codsworth. He is a little… overly friendly, but he’s just excited to have some company again.”

 

Preston nodded and stood up, before offering his hand to help her up. “I’ll admit, meeting a nice Mr. Handy is going to be interested. Sturges,” the mechanic, who had moved to pick up their bags, hmed in answer. “Don’t tinker with the robot.” Sturges gave a cheekier grin as he lugged a huge duffle bag over his shoulder.

 

“If you’d like, Mr. Sturges, you could take the armor. It’s… well… fighting that Deathjaw-claw kind of ruined the outer plates. The frame is still intact, so perhaps working on it versus my butler would be fine?” Nora pulled all of her charms into her voice while not edging to the flirty undertones she had used in for court cases.

 

Sturges snorted softly, but scratched his nose like he was a touch shy. “Oh, now there’s no need to call me Mister, ma’am. Makes me feel like I’m supposed to be important. Yeah, I’d love to work on that Power armor. Got any requests?” Nora blinked; she wasn’t aware that she could claim the armor or its upgrades.

 

“Well… I’d love to have the feet better plated. To fight against any spilt liquids. That fire melted a bit of my shoes. Other than that… paint it with zebra stripes?”

 

A line of confused faces met hers, and Nora was just _barely_ able to restrain her snort. It was understandable, Nora. The world _did_ end. “Oh, sorry. Zebras are… were? a black and white striped horse,” more stares. “HM… a horse was a large four-hoofed animal that humans used to ride.” Preston seemed to get what she mentioned, but everyone else blinked. Nora looked around the museum entrance before pointing to one of the heavily destroyed paintings. She pointed to the just barely visible horse on the battle field. “This. This is a horse.” All of them still stared, but Preston gave her the courtesy of coming over to the painting.

 

“Closest thing we have to that now is a Radstag, but there’s no way you could ride one. Wish we could; looks a heck of a lot more convenient than walking.” Preston gave her a gentle smile and waved the two of them to the door.

 

Outside, Sturges hopped into the Power armor before lifting all the different bags onto his shoulders. Nora helped Momma Murphy down the stairs while Preston passed out the different weapons from the Raiders to the Longs. “Oh, it’s so good to have you coming with us. I’ll get to say I knew you before,” Nora arched her brows at the woman. “You, you are going to be the driving force behind the Common Wealth someday. Can’t see who is behind you yet, the Sights not clear, but they will stand fast behind you.”

 

“Momma Murphy, I’m… not much for fortune tellers. But with that Death demon thing, I’d say you have some weight to your words.” Nora had to admit as she walked with the older woman back to Sanctuary.

 

 

“You’ll see in time, sweetheart. I see so many people moving around you, some to help, some to hurt. There are spots around you for those who will follow you to hell and back.” The older woman’s eyes shone with conviction and Nora felt a shiver of foreboding. Nora was just a normal, albeit from a small town, woman. Someone who, all her life, wanted to be in show business, but who had been forced into politics and the legal system. Her charm, brought about by years of drama and being in the shadow of her _very_ political grandfather, had won her many people. She could count her true friends on one hand though. Nora shuddered again in disgust, but she felt her old mask slip over her easily, and she gave the psychic her best smile.

 

“Don’t worry, hun. Those behind you will see the _real_ you. And they will love you for her.” At that, Nora really couldn’t help her dismissive snort. “You’ll see. Oh, it’s wonderful,” Momma Murphy breathed with relief as they turned the corner of the road and saw the bridge. The old woman patted her arm, “Wait here a few moments. Preston wants to talk.” And like magic, Preston waved the Longs and Sturges forward and turned on his heel to look at the two women. Murphy smiled softly and walked forward, leaving the two of them alone.

 

“It really is something… I can literally only imagine what it looked like in your time,” Preston mused softly as he let his musket’s handle thump lightly on the broken road and he leaned on it some. Nora placed her right hand over her left again and looked out over the area. “Well, all the walls were closed. Roofs too. Those trees were full of orange and red leaves. Most of the houses were painted bright blue or yellow. Our neighborhood was a rare one. So… open. We had some neighbors that had Asian descent. We even had a woman married couple. We were pretty bonded as a neighborhood. Tracy and Rebecca were attacked one night. Someone tried to set fire to their house. I, Na… my husband and a few other neighbors chased them away.”

 

“Same-sex couple were rare back then?” Preston asked in honest curiosity.

 

Nora blinked and couldn’t keep the amazement out of her voice as she asked, “They aren’t now?! Oh god,” she had to keep her beaming smile to herself. Oh, how some of her friends and family would have _loved_ that kind of news.

 

Preston’s cheeks darkened at her exclamation. Grr, right. Control. Nora straightened her back and pushed her face into as much of an indifferent expression as she could. “Well, see… nowadays, most people are more concerned with surviving than romance. Even less worried about who they romance. Some people still try to make it a big deal and there are some people who only like one gender but,” Whoa wait. It was _more_ common was people to… what? Be bi-sexual? Pan… wait, what was that other word? “Like I said, most people really don’t care.” Preston gave an indifferent shrug and canted his head toward the bridge. The two of them walked slowly over the wooden planks. “Now, I know you want to find your son, but you have already seen first-hand what happens out here. Those Raiders are really common, and even though you can hold your own really well, I would like to offer you some gun and survival training. There are some things out there worse than Raiders and Ferals.”

 

_Nora thought about it until they crossed over the last plank of the bridge. “Thank you Preston. I will take you up on the offer.”_

 

 

Nora snapped out of her memories when she realized Preston was staring at her, pulling a bit of color to her cheeks. “I still like calling them dinosaurs,” Nora stuck her tongue out at the Minutemen, who gave a small chuckle under his breath.

 

Strong followed the two of them through two empty buildings, moving debris as they dug for any little bits and pieces they could find. Despite Nora’s hope, the Brotherhood really did pick just about everything clean. Nora only found one vial of super glue and a pair of toasters. She passed Preston one of her screwdrivers and they took them apart in less than two minutes each. A few screws and a bit of wire, damn their luck. Exiting the second building, Nora could hear that Danse and Dee’s side of town was still much busier than theirs. Just as Nora was about to command her half to lend support, the ground beneath them shook with vengeance.

 

Cracks started appearing in the road and the rumbles from earlier were joined by deafening scratches, like claws tearing through the rocks. Preston grabbed Nora and ducked both of them down behind a car just as a sinkhole formed… _and a ginormous ant climbed out of it._

Nora gaped in horror as the bug’s antennae twitched and tapped along the cars and broken road around it. It had to be the size of a small Yao Guai, and the twitching and moving made the same noises as a radroach. Aside from the shiver running through Nora’s back, her mind raced to understand the Wasteland. How could an ant evolve into something bigger than a goddamn roach?!

 

And then Strong charged it.

 

Oh, and it had _friends_!!

 

The second ant snapped its mandibles on Strong’s leg as Strong slammed his board into the first head. Strong roared in pain and Nora surged up and sprinted toward him. Cito’s bat made its way into her hands and she slammed it into the first ant’s head. Their joint bashing dented a good size hole into the ant’s brain, and Nora swung back again, aiming for the second ant. As the rocket bat punched the right mandible off and freed her mutant, Nora got a good view of the hole.

 

And hole-y shit, were they in trouble.

 

“Strong, back to Preston. Move toward Mac and Hancock’s building! MOVE!” Nora pushed Cito’s bat into Strong’s chest and pulled out her shotgun. She saw at least three more, and she had no idea if there were others.

 

Spray and pray.

 

The skittering and snapping of the ants sent shivers down her spine, but she kept up the fire power as she retreated slowly. Two well aimed shells to the head caused an ant to lay down and twitch. Problem was that not so well placed shots did jack shit. Thunder sounded behind her and Preston’s laser slammed into the eye of the one on her left.

 

Oh, yay, there were definitely more than three.

 

Nora sprinted away from ants, catching her men by the arms and continuing for the center of town. Two shots rang out behind her, the second closer than the first as Mac’s precision helped save them… and then a second hole opened up to their right. Nora set on her brakes and looked for something to hide- and shoved Strong down the entrance of a narrow back alley. She shoved him in and Preston helped her get the super mutant in deep enough for the two of them to get in too. Nora panted and stared back at the entrance of the alley, jumping in fear as the ant snapped and chewed at the rubble.

 

It was only when a hand touched her right side and pulled at her 10 mm that she recognized the position she was in. She and Preston were pressed together, chest to hip, with her left leg kicked up on the wall behind him. It took some wrangling- Preston having to loop his hands behind her to pass the gun from his left to his right- but Preston leveled three shots into the ant’s eye before it finally fell to the ground and twitched. They waited, but when no other ants came up to chew on the walls, they sighed in relief. Nora let her mind fully process their positions again and smirked as she curled her kicked-out leg to tap her heel on Preston’s hip/butt. Preston must have just noticed as his eyes did a hard once over and he tried to jerk back, quickly realizing that wasn’t possible.

 

 

“Lovely position, isn’t it?” Nora purred and reached to fix Preston’s scarf and jacket into place as she lowered her leg. “Wish I could say this is the first time I’ve gotten into this position thanks to a giant monster.”

 

 

“Do I want to know, General?” With her leg down, he was able to move them about 90 degrees, which would allow them to walk out single file.

 

 

“Well, it involved Hancock, MacCready, a closet and a Behemoth Super Mutant. Well… MacCready was the one to kill the thing, and Hancock and I were the ones stuck in a closet for a good 20 minutes. Caved in around us too.” Nora peeked her head out slowly to check the scene. No immediate ants, but with all the shooting going on, they had to be close to Danse and Dee. “Strong, stimpack or just meat?” Nora called out as she climbed over the ant’s body, wondering if it was edible.

 

 

“Strong fine, Leader. Big bug not even strong enough to tear Strong’s leg off with big teeth. Mutant hound is better animal.” Strong worked his large frame out from the walls, stomping on the ant’s head for good measure. Course, the heavy limp of the mutant told a different story, but Nora made it a point to never baby the green man.

 

A scream, an actual scream, sounded nearby, and Nora’s mind blanked.

 

Who was hurt?

 

 

Nora had these… stages of being, for lack of a better phrase. There were times when she moved and acted on instinct and didn’t know how she got into a position until after. Most of the time, it was caused by someone she cared about getting hurt. Because _no one fucked with her family_.

 

 

That’s where she found herself now. She didn’t know _how_ , exactly, she got there, but she could take a good guess. She was currently driving Pickman’s blade over and over into the head of the ant. Danse, still inside his dinged Power armor, was trying to push the mandibles open to pull himself free. Off to her side, Strong slammed his minigun into life, making sure other ants were devoid of their limbs. Preston’s rifle and Dee’s shotgun joined the noise on her right, though she couldn’t see them.  Behind Danse was Mason, who was having to keep pressure on his sliced open arm. Oddly, there were fresh bruises on his face.

 

 

Nora didn’t pay any mind as she stabbed and stabbed at the ant. “Get” **stab** “your” **stab** “stupid” **stab** “mouth **.** off **.** my **.** Paladin!” with more stabs in-between. Finally the ant gave a death rattle/click and slumped forward, pinning Danse’s legs under it. Flicking the eye goo off her blade, Nora hopped off the head and started shoving it off Danse. It wasn’t heavy, but a frantic beeping from inside the suit told Nora that said suit was almost out of power. She did a quick immediate area check before reaching to the bottom zipper of Danse’s gun quaver and pulled out a fresh fusion core. A quick yank- ungodly loud protesting beeps- and a quick shove had Danse freshly powered and ready for more. Nora grabbed hold of the armor’s bars along his neck and shoulders and hopped up onto his back. If her 10 mm hadn’t been used in her white out period, she still had 8 bullets. Slamming into VATS, she aimed for the one on the left of Dee. Marking 3 shots to its right eye, she let them fly. The first pierced the eye and opened it up. The second sank into and probably through the eye socket. The last definitely hit its brain as it collapsed without even a rattle.

 

Then her gun clicked on an empty chamber. Ok, so she had done _more_ damage while in white-out mode.

 

Good to know.

 

Luckily, those seemed to be the last of the ants. Nora quickly shoved in a new clip to her 10 mm and surveyed the area again slowly. Strong was on the wall next to Mason and Preston was giving a stimpack injection to each of them. Mason was cussing _very_ colorfully about dozens of things being shoved up or through various ant body parts. Dee was trying to light himself a cigarette, and failing. Wait, where was-

 

“Paladin?” Danse spoke under her. Oh right… when the hell did she climb up here? Nora quickly hopped off and gave the suit’s shoulder two fist taps. “Sorry, Danse. Acted without thinking again.” Not that she hadn’t used the ‘Power armor is the only high ground so use it’ tactic before, but Danse always appreciated a warning first.

 

Nora torn into her holster for her lighter and tossed it to Dee as she replenished her shotgun too. Never trust moments of calm until you were home in bed was a chant in her head. Which was a good thing as a chest-rattling roar soon shot through the town.

 

A bubble of hysterical laughter came from… someone. Who was-?

 

And here comes big Poppa Deathclaw from deep within the crumbled building at the far end of the road. It was taller, but leaner than the ones in the Common Wealth, but it looked just as deadly. The ring of hysterical laughter continued to sound as Nora pulled her pistol up to blast her whole clip at the beast’s left horn.

 

Who the hell was laughing?

 

At the fifth bullet, it roared in fury as its horn snapped off, but the other 7 bullets just blinded its left eye… and _ROYALLY_ pissed it off. It dropped to all fours and dove for the middle of their group. She felt and heard Danse flint right with her, but as she lost sight of the others as she started blasting her shotgun at the thing’s hamstrings.

 

One good thing about being a past dancer was that, in terms of agility, Nora was supreme. She could outrun everyone, except Hancock when he took the right cocktail. Her flexibility helped her dodge left when the beast swung right, or roll out of the way when it stomped down. And as long as she wasn’t there too long, she could pop a few dozen pellets into the claw’s softer underbelly.

 

Between the soft laughter, and roars of the beast, Nora almost didn’t hear Danse’s cry of pain as the beast slapped him full on the chest plate. She definitely felt the whoosh of air as the soldier went sailing past her. And yet, _once again_ , something was fucking. with. _Her_. _FAMILY_!!

 

As the thing charged her again, this time, she ran at it back. As it lifted both its hands, probably to slam her through the road, Nora used a baseball slide to get herself under it completely. She slid far enough in that she was now looking at the junction of the body and the tail. And, if she remembered her lizard biology from old afternoon TV specials and high school science, she was looking at its cloaca.

 

Hello opportunity for a long standing joke. Nora gave a mighty shove, getting about 1/3 of her shotgun’s barrel up into the thing’s internal system, and squeezed the trigger.

 

The Deathclaw roared in pain and tried to pull away from Nora. Her quick hands got her shotgun cocked once more and a second shot ripped through the organs and veins. Nora was now completely covered in blood, and if her guess was right, the white stuff that fell on her was scat. The Deathclaw tittered to the left, before slumping dead on to the car.

 

Nora stood up and flailed her arms, trying to swing as much of the blood and other fluids off of her as she could. The laughing that had been there through the fight was making her head ache. Who in all the circles of hell was-

 

 

Why was there a leather clad finger touching her nose?

 

 

And like that, the spell was broken and she recognized that the laughter was coming from her own mouth. She also recognized the serious look on Preston’s face as he watched her eyes as she came out of it. He must have realized when she was because he smiled and removed his finger. “Whoa, Hancock’s trick really does work.”

 

 

Nora pouted; well, it really wasn’t the first time she’d gone off the rails. She felt her face heat up under the hot sticky blood and looked over to the body of the Deathclaw. On this end, she could see the holes she punched through its guts. A few bits and pieces of the organs were slowly seeping out of the holes, making Nora pull a face.

 

“Well, it’s definitely dead,” Nora reached up to wipe off her face and felt as she smeared it more than cleaned it. “I look god awful, don’t I, Lt?”

 

“General, you look like a Deathclaw killing machine,” Preston smiled, and Nora was compelled to smile back.

 

“Alright, report, please.” Nora turned back to where she last saw everyone. Dee was with Strong and Mason, who were still on the wall.  Dee was leaning hard against it with his hand pressed tight of his left ribs. No blood stains on his shirt though, but the way he was breathing told Nora it was a good blow. Yet, he somehow kept the cigarette on his lips.

 

“So far, so good, General. Some near misses, but Danse took the heavier throw for me.” Nora’s eyes darted for her Paladin and moved over to him quickly. He was flexing his frame’s left arm as she stood in front of him.

 

“Report, solider.” Nora asked as she reached into a few of the latches of the arm and removed the outer shell. Hm, the joints were going to need some lube and looked like the wrist’s pistols needed to be redone.

 

“Nothing to report, Paladin. Minimum damage from the Deathclaw. That blow to the chest did knock the wind out of me for a few moments, but most of the suit’s damage was received from the ants.” Nora gave the chest plate a poke and a prod, before working her way around him. Good scratches all over and the cracks would need sealing and- 

 

A clearing of Danse’s throat stopped her and made her step back. She knew that tone; she was making him uncomfortable with being so close. Damn, there really were some days she _hated_ the fact that they knew he was a synth.

 

“Aw, sorry, Paladin,” Nora stepped around to his front and smiled casually at him. “Keep me informed though.” Nora gave a more ‘brotherly’ thump to his shoulder as she walked over to Dee and Strong. Stopping in front of Mason, whose arm was stitching itself back together as she watched, he sneered up at her. There was that violent urge again… but Nora knew the better approach now.

 

“Thanks for the idea, Mason,” the Raider canted his head in suspicious disbelief. “Well, it _was_ your idea. Didn’t you say ‘Stick a gun up its fucking ass and shot its brains out’? Seems to work just as good for a Deathclaw as an ant.” Nora beamed, hissing in sympathy as Dee hurt himself trying to laugh. Patting the Railroad man’s shoulder, she turned her head to the roof line, and quickly caught sight of a waving red arm. The three were all standing, guns in hand it looked like. Nora grabbed for her PipBoy, shaking more blood off, and hit the walkie-talkie.

 

“We are going to stay here for two minutes. Scan the area; anything fishy, take care of it. If it looks clear, you three head down. We’ve got looting to do.”

 

 

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Hole-y shit this was long one. And we aren’t even done with this trip. Next time, Nora cleans up as best she can and spends a bit of bonding time with each of her boys. Dawwwwww

 

 

Also, I _did_ get a gaming computer for my birthday. I am playing Dragon Age Inquisition… I have met Iron Bull… I think I have a type.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora's still out with the boys, but what are boys thinking?
> 
> New Tags to be added: Guys fantasizing about Nora, Mason fantasizing about Nora in a bad way. Friends having fights. Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so in my headcanon, my Nora has the following stats
> 
> 4 Strength (takes hits better than gives them) 6 Perception (add in her high Charisma and she’s solid) 5-6 Endurance (definitely getting better) 10+ Charisma (Pre-war life had Nora going to all the political shit. Might have had something to do with her maternal grandparents.) 8-9 Intelligence (She was not too cool for school) 10+ Agility (dancer whole life, extra flexible, and just royally long legged) ? on Luck because it all depends on who you ask. Nora says she has horrible luck, her crew says good luck and raiders call her the unluckiest thing to ever happen to them.
> 
> Full armorer and Blacksmith perk (with Codsworth’s help. He can remember and explain back any blue prints they find.
> 
> Awareness, Locksmith (only to two though, since she found the secret to them; Let Strong hit the stupid things) Demo expert Level 2
> 
> Lead Belly (nothing seems to make her sick ) and Aquagirl. Is there a negative Chem Resistant perk?
> 
> Black Widow, Attack Dog, Local leader, Inspirational and Intimidation got maxed. Cap Collector got maxed after NukaWorld.
> 
> Medic level 2, Gun Nut level 2, Hacker was pre-war max, Chemist is max thanks to Momma Murphy, and Robotics Expert thanks to Cods and Curie
> 
> Max Levels for Gunslinger, Sandman, Action Girl and Quick Hands. Second high level for the rest of agility.

Mac, Hancock and Gage arrived just as Nora, de-armored for now, fished out two bottles of unfiltered water from Danse and Dee’s looting pack. Danse, temporarily out of his armor, had opened up a bottle of Rad-x and tossed one into her mouth. Literally. She wasn’t about to let blood get all over their meds. Hancock stole her lighter from Dee as she starts pouring one of the bottles over her hands, cleaning them as best she could. She then leaned her head back and poured the second bottle over her face, scrubbing the blood and other things from her face. With the last of the bottle used to rewash her hands, Nora shook her head to get the left over water off.

 

“Love the fresh out of the shower look, Princess,” Hancock was giving her a wicked leer before winking. Nora stuck her tongue out briefly, “Now just imagine me without all the blood… or the clooothes,” Nora pulled the syllable and winked back, make the ghoul give a sinister behind-his-teeth laugh. “Don’t I always,” he quipped before taking a drag.

 

“Alright, enough of sexual banter, can we-”

  
“Aww Mac, that’s the best kind of banter.” Nora beamed, smile widening at Mac’s scowl. “But, yes, in this case, enough. I need to try to find something different to wear. I hate the idea of walking around in Ant guts and Deathclaw blood.”

 

“Well, you could always-”

 

“Hancock, darling, it will be a cold day in hell when I walk around naked, so keep dreaming.” Nora rolled her eyes.

 

“You’ve done it before,” Hancock added under his breath. Nora flushed and growled at him. “God, I almost wish I let you keep your hat today so I could beat you with it.”

 

“Now _that_ I would love to see on a tombstone,” Preston added with a rare cheeky grin that made Nora warm inside.

 

Nora flailed her arms out and in a far too dramatic voice, “Here lies Mayor John Hancock of Goodneighbor fame, beaten to death by his good friend and his dear hat.” A roll of laughter from everyone, including Hancock echoed after her declaration.

“I’m more interested in the fact that you’ve gone around naked, _General_ ,” and cue Mason; of-fucking-course. All the guys, but Strong glared at the Raider, but Nora shrugged.

 

“Picture if you will, dear Mason, the community of Sanctuary. I know you can picture it, because some of your boys hit it. In fact, they are the center of this little story. So here I am, having just made a one week trip around my Boston ruin settlement, Bunker Hill, Diamond City and Goodneighbor. I’m bringing along, with me, those two,” she gestures to Mac and Hancock, “And Nicky. It’s Christmas Eve, and we are all damn tired. I am covered in two inches of muck that we got from taking out _another_ Raider camp. This one was inside a quarry not far from Concord, and it was _also_ full of Mirklurks. I’ve gone around 18 hours without food, close to 30 without sleep, and just had to have Hancock put my shoulder back into place… well, damn that’s a running theme with us, huh Mayor?”

 

“Seems like it. First time I met you, you came into town with even less sleep and less blood. Your arm was the least of your problems.” Hancock chimed in as he finished off his cigarette and reach into his coat for his tin of Mentats. “Get you sleep deprived and you’re a whole different woman, Princess.”

 

The guys all made a noise or gesture of agreement; hell, even Gage closed his eye and gave a small nod.

 

Nora flushed. “Shut up. Anyway, so after the 45 minute walk while covered in goo, we all arrive at Sanctuary. I didn’t unpack, didn’t take off my guns, hell I didn’t even say hi to Preston. I send the guys off to my old house and go straight to the bathhouse. So I strip and I’m under the shower head, with _hot_ water, and I hear shots fire. My turrets are going nuts, but I’m too damn tired to let other people take care of it. So I wrap up in my towel, grab my shotgun and go marching out. Hadn’t been running with Danse, Strong or Dee -officially- yet, but everyone else,” Nora made a small wave to her crew, “was out there already. So were Piper and Cait, taking pop shots from on top of my roof.”

 

“A literal wet dream come true,” Hancock commented wistfully. Mac smacked him on the arm, but the slight blush was on his cheeks showed his agreement. 

 

“So the lot of us rain hell on your boys, Alpha, until one of them shoots my towel off and I am naked as a jay bird out in the middle of the street. Well, I am sure you can guess just how _happy_ I am to be naked, so I duck into our small armory, open my locker and pull out _Momma_. Head back out into the street, line up a shot, and blast the Raiders into bits.” Nora gave a cruel grin to Mason as she leaned over his still sitting frame. “The mongrels that hang around were full for days.”

 

Mason leapt up and swung. Nora ducked and weaved, dropped down and side donkey kicked Mason right in the side of his left knee, making it buckle. He still had one good leg though, and a _lot_ of muscle mass behind him. He punched down toward her, but she used the counter force of her kick into his knee to flip herself the other way, out of his reach. In the time it took Mason to swing two more times, Nora was coiling on her knees, and shoulder slammed him into the side of his ribs. She felt the wind knock out of him, but he still didn’t go down. His next punch connected, right in her stomach where her armor was thin.

 

Nora was many things; fast, agile, a good shot, decent in knives, and a fucking grade-A chem chef. Nora was not _strong_ ; her punches were largely ineffective though her kicks were damn good. Add to that, while she could take a punch, they were pretty damaging to her. Nora took the punch now, breathing out as it slammed in right above her navel.

 

She was, however, a very _dirty_ fighter.

 

She grabbed on to Mason’s arm as he connected with her, pushed to bend it hard, and basically climbed on it. This meant that both of them dropped like rocks, only Mason’s elbow smashed into the ground first with her full weight on top of it. The crack was sickening, and Mason shout was deafening, but Nora got off quickly and grabbed at his hair. Pulling the man’s face up to look up as she stood over him, Nora cooed. “Didn’t I tell you to be a good dog or you’ll be put down?” Nora shoved the man back against the wall. “Your temper is a big weakness of yours, Mason. Too damn easy to exploit. Getting angry has its good points; keeps you going in a fight. Also makes you stupid if you haven’t looked over your opponent.” Nora was breathy as she rubbed where the blow connected. She did a quick check around and saw Mac quietly put his safety back on his rifle while Hancock and Danse still had pistols in hand. _That’s_ her boys.

 

“Like fuck I need fightin’ tips from a cunt,” Mason snapped and snarled. Which turned into a shout and quiet whimper when Nora pushed her foot into his forearm and down into the road. “This _cunt_ just whipped your ass, _Alpha_. I’ve already got you in a collar; do you seriously need a leash too?”

 

“Not that it ain’t fun to watch ya go full dominator/dominatrix or whatever the hell the word is, Boss, but can we move this along?” Gage spoke… wait a minute, _Gage spoke_!! In a full sentence no less. Nora kicked off Mason, who whimpered again and cradled his broken arm, and looked over at Gage. “That word still exists? Thought that one would have died out, with the lack of pin up mags or holo-rno.” She ignored the way her body flushed around _his_ voice saying _that_ word. Fuckkkkk this weakness of hers.

 

“Holo porn is still around, if you got the caps to pay for it, and someone’s willin’ to part with it. Pin ups are the hard-to-find ones.” Hancock commented as he finally put his pistol back inside his frock.

 

“Found a pin up _page_ in the ruins at 17. I got 50 caps for it,” Mac offered up as he slung the rifle back over his shoulder and fished for his own pack of smokes.

 

“Hey, hey. Finish the story of the Great General fighting off a Pack while ‘naked as a jay bird’. Then explain that phrase, Prof.” Deacon asked as he finished off his cigarette with his left hand since his right was still on his ribs. Nora fished out a stimpack from the back pouch of her holster, and offered it, her head leaning to Dee’s sore side. She was waved off, but Nora kept it out; she wasn’t going to let Mason suffer… too long.

 

“ ‘Naked as a jaybird’ was a phrase coined in the legal system ages ago. Even before I was born. In the old days, people were tried and sentenced for their crimes rather than being shot. They used to go to jail and most of them were close to a car factory in size, full of bad guys. Each got a cell 10 by 8. When they first arrived, the prisoners were stripped of everything and made to walk to the showers naked. They were also called J, the letter, birds. It was short for Jail birds. So naked jaybirds. As for the naked fight, by the time the missile hit the Pack members, I had four coats surrounding me, and bless their hearts, the guys tried not to look.” Nora paused and looked at the guys. Preston gave a stiff nod, Mac scratched his nose and looked to the side. Hancock just smirked and gave her a two finger salute. “I pulled Nick’s on and held Mac’s to my front; Nick’s didn’t close all the way. After that, Preston, Hancock, Nick and Piper ran interference. Didn’t need settlers thinking it was _normal_ for me to be parading around in a towel or less.”

 

“I still can’t believe we had to remind people of that. After everything the Minutemen, and especially you, had done for them.” Preston looked actually peeved, his hands gripping the laser rifle tightly.

 

“People never say it, but they like seein’ their heroes fall. Even if it’s just for a bit,” Hancock spoke with a bit of bite in his voice. “And there’s no bigger hero in the ‘Wealth than Nora.” Nora’s back shivered hard and she bit the inside of her cheek. There was nothing quite like the guys actually _using_ her name. Everyone had a nickname for her. General, Paladin, Boss, Princess, Prof, Blue, Leader. No one used her name, and damnnnnn did it do things to her when they did.

 

Obvious things since both Hancock and Mac reacted to her shiver by giving her a once over. Hancock smirked and leered while Mac’s eyebrow raised. What surprised her was how Danse and Preston gave her the once over too. Danse’s eyes narrowed for a moment while Preston’s face was innocent. She was willing to bet Dee’s eyes rolled over her as well. Nora rolled her shoulder and cracked her neck.

 

“Alright, enough of memory lane. I need clothes and we now have steaks. Strong, you and Danse will be in charge of getting all the ants in a pile. I need one of you guys to take me clothes shop-”

 

“Got you covered on that one, Prof,” Deacon chimed in and kicked off the wall. Nora raised her brows and made side note of everyone else. Everyone but Preston looked murderous at the spy, while Preston looked uncomfortable. Dee gave an air of not noticing, but Nora knew better.

 

“Oh? You know a G.C. around here, Dee?” Nora slipped into Railroad code and smirked as Deacon tapped the side of his nose. It was an extra layer Nora had imposed on the two of them, with GC meaning Geiger counter. “Alright then. Danse and Strong gather up the ants. Everyone else, chop them up. Not sure if the ants are good eats thouuugh,” Nora prolonged herself and looked at Mac and Danse.

 

“Ant’s alright, there is just not much on them. But with a swarm like this,” Mac turned around and looked at the bodies, nodding to himself. “Yeah, we’ll eat pretty good.”

 

Nora nodded, before holding her stimpack out to Mason. He snarled at her. “Take it, or I’ll _make_ you take it, Mason. I’ll stab it right into your elbow,” Nora waited an extra second, watching as Mason took it. “Ain’t suppos’ to take out of your hands, General, ‘member?”

 

“Someone remind me to aim for his teeth next time he decides to smart off,” Nora grinned to her boys, watching Mac wince hard and rub along his jaw. His tooth repair _had_ been a long and painful event. “Gage,” Nora held out her hand and watched as the Raider passed her the rifle before she passed it off to Danse to put inside the power armor quiver. “Alright, you boys be good for a change,” Nora smiled and followed after Dee.

 

 

Dee stopped holding his ribs as the two of them cut this way and that, finally making a big circle to just outside of town. He pulled Nora into a mostly destroyed room before waving to the small chalk lantern on the wall in the corner. He reached down under a big slab of fallen wall and pushed it off, reviving a deep hole. Shoving the rubble up against what was left of the wall, he reached in and pulled out a good sized box. Cracking it open, and fanning the dust away, Deacon pulled out 2 pairs of decent pants, a dingy green T-shirt, and 3 bottles of purified water. Deacon noticed a second box underneath, ammo from the size of it. He pushed the box toward Nora and dusted off his hands.

 

“There we go, Prof. One set of decent Wasteland apparel, from me to you.” Deacon watched as the bloodstained woman knelt down to choose between the jeans. It really was a sight; disgusting, but awe inspiring to know that she was the one to end the Deathclaw. Not the first time they fought one, and definitely wouldn’t be the last. There was just something about the way Nora ran to put herself in the way of danger to protect others from it. One of the reasons he never thought twice about when Dez put them together.

 

Ok, maybe he had some second and third thoughts. She could do stealth when she wanted to, but she was more prone to falling into danger. She always climbed her way back out. Hero of the Common Wealth indeed. Plus, if the only price he paid for laying on his bullshit was a good nose pop, he’d take it. He wasn’t used to people staying on his side after weeks of said bullshit. She was just that kind of person. Accepting and nurturing in a way. Everyone fell under her charms, and half the time she didn’t even have to try. He was in this for the job and her. Not like he was a big fan of the rest of the guys. He could play like he was, though.

 

“How do you spot the signs so easily, Dee?” Nora questioned as she shook out the pants. Dee watched as her back tensed, then released before tensing again. Her eyes stayed off of him, even as she addressed him. Other little tells were coming off of her. He recognized them as signs of anxious expectation. Nora already recognized the other reason he pulled her aside. Atta girl.

 

“What can I say? The shades give me super sight. Not to mention years of looking for them.” Dee remarked nonchalantly. He kept his face neutral as Nora started to strip, though his heart rate was picking up as she unclasped the holster and started untying the plaid shirt’s knot. That knot had done a wonderful job of pushing up her breasts, making them more enticing. Course, if he hadn’t seen them in all their glory last night, he might have been _uncomfortable_ on the trip over. He noticed Preston had been; stretching out one leg, then the other, always keeping one cocked at the knee to hide himself from direct view.

 

Once again, Dee was thankful for his dark shades. It always allowed him to watch her. Watch as she tried to delicately flirt with Preston starting back months ago in Sanctuary. See it always fly right over his head, to her disappointment. He saw the ways she fought against some inner voice at times, a voice that seemed to tell her to act a way that wasn’t natural to her. He was there the night in Goodneighbor when she finally freed herself from most of that inner voice. It had been one hell of a song and dance. Literally.

 

He watched as she palled around with Hancock; easy, like they were best friends their whole lives. Though he wondered if Nora saw just how much of the ghoul’s flirting was directed at her alone. MacCready had been a wild card; he expected the kid to keep up his merc nature. He was waiting was the sniper to run; find some less dangerous or better paying gig. Boy, had he been thrown as he watched the kid trail after Nora, even after getting his son’s cure. Watching the pup’s eyes light up every time she called him along for a trip.

 

Danse lusted for her almost as immediately as Hancock, in a couple of ways. The Brotherhood solider had wanted to pick her brain at every chance, wanted her on his team as soon as she showed up in that damn blue vault suit, yellow sun hat and that certain 10 mm she loved so much. It was hard keeping track of her after that; he could listen in at the airport, but getting _up_ there? Nope. Nora wrangled Danse down to the ground more after getting the courser chip. Took him to all her settlements on one of her long trips. Brought him back, a mostly changed man. The lust didn’t cool until the man found out he was a synth, and it hadn’t just cooled. The man was a wall of ice now. Ice with a _raging_ fire on the inside. If she ever got him going, she was going to be sore…

 

Dee held out his hands was the gear, silent as a shadow as the less bloody tanktop was pulled off. It was a miracle that her bra was still white… and barely contained their contents.

 

And in all his observations, where did that leave him? Nora never felt like Barbara did to him. In some ways she was better, in other ways worse. Prof was probably going to be the death of him someday. Either with these errands or by letting the Institute still run. She’d killed the Gen 3 production, leaving the Gen 1s and 2s maintenance open. All the coursers had either been killed or mind-wiped, but that didn’t mean much. She had most of the support of the eggheads, but would it be enough to keep the freed synths free and the Railroad not dead? Dee wasn’t so-

 

Hello bare legs, been a few hours since I’ve seen you.

 

There was the itch again. The one that told him she was doing this to tease him. As she bent down to pull the jeans off, pushing her lovely rump into the air perfectly in his line of sight, he knew she was definitely teasing. She could have _easily_ told him to wait outside while she got dressed. Probably should have too, as he reached out to pinch-

 

And like the viper she was, her hand snapped around his wrist and squeezed, clicking the small bones together. He held back a grimace and relax his stance completely.

 

“Hm, I must be getting a little too easy to read, huh Prof?”

 

“You are going to keep your hands to yourself from now on. How the hell did you get into the wagon with _no one_ noticing?” Nora growled and threw his hand away, and it took some effort on his end to not rub the bruised limb.

 

“Easy; threw a rock at Strong. Made him do that Super mutant roar thing he does, you all watched him and I hopped in and sat on the trunk.” Deacon bowed at the waist, which meant he left him open to some abuse if she wanted to.

 

The knock to the back of his head was a good example. He overacted his injury to help appease her temper. “Ouch! Geez, Prof. And after I get you some new clothes too.”

 

The woman crossed her arms over her bra-ed chest and started tapping her foot. The very _picture_ of an old world pissed off mom.

 

Deacon sighed and rubbed the back of his head some more, before letting her see under his veil a bit. “I was anxious enough when you brought just the big guy yesterday. You and the other one have history. Wasn’t going to take a chance, even with the other five out here.” Her foot was still tapped and Deacon nodded his surrender. “And I definitely shouldn’t have laughed. I mean, _I_ was laughing because you tripped over air. You’re normally so-” Deacon cut himself off as she puffed up more and he made a scene of pulling at the neckline of his T-shirt. “I’m sorry, Nora,” Hm. Her name, delivered in a low, soft tone gave her a full body shiver, to the point even her eyes close briefly. She shook her head and glared him down, though she couldn’t fight away the red that came to her face.

 

“I guess I really need to know where we stand, Dee.” And there was the question to end all questions.

 

What did he want out of this, now that he had crossed into her bedroom… well, he’d done that several times already. Couple of nights, rogue mercs had roamed her settlements when she stayed over. He had knifed at least 2 of them.

 

“Well, in a rare show of honesty from me,… you’re not like my Barbara,” Nora nodded like she expected that answer, which she likely did. “Not going to leave your side though. We do too much good work together. Soooo,” Deacon entered into her personal bubble. Her foot stopped tapping, but her arms didn’t drop. She was waiting. “If you need use of my oral skills again, I’ll gladly-” and cue the expected pop to his nose. He grabbed her fist after the blow, sniffing hard through the pain before shaking his head free of cobwebs. He kept hold of that hand and pulled it around to the back of his neck, leaning his face towards hers, mentally smiling as she was fighting to keep her eyes on his. She wanted to look away; for all her flirting, she was not used to _being_ seduced. He liked to see her blush just as much as Hancock. He waited, reading her face and body to see if he was going to be accepted. Her eyes cast a quick look to his mouth and he advanced, sealing his lips over hers.

 

The anger was still there; the way her shoulders were drawn up and her back was stiff. She wanted to be angry, but she never could for long. Especially after he released her lips, hovered his a hairs breath away and whispered a rumbling ‘Nora’. The shiver completely loosened her and she sighed oh so happily as he kissed her again. His hand looped around the back of her neck as hers fisted into his wig before cupping his neck instead. He nipped the lower lip, twice before holding on to it and pulling, hearing the trying-to-hold-it-down whine. He kissed her fully once more before releasing her. Her eyes were slightly hazy as she opened them again. She was nicely flushed, and the sight pulled him in again. He tilted her head back and lick as long, slow stripe up from the center of her collar bone, over her voice box and to the underside of her chin.

 

“Dee,” she said, her voice turning husky now, and he felt her wiggle. Her thighs were squirming together, and she was digging her fingertip pads into the muscles of his neck. He trailed the end of his nose down the path his tongue took, resting it over her voice box, before turning his face enough to latch his teeth onto the spot and ‘chewed’. That got her to jolt up onto her toes and do that cute squeal/shriek/whatever that was and push at him. “NO! Did you not see the mark you already left on me?!” Deacon watched as she moved her bra strap to the side, and pointed to the spot his love bite _should_ be. She had to have gotten a shot of stimpak today. The fact that his hard won hickey was gone called to his ego, and his arms snapped around her waist, pinning her to his chest. She gasped very nicely as he latched on to the area and sucked it back up again. Her breath hitched before a keening sound filled the room. Just on the right side of pain, from the way her hands balled up in the back of his shirt and the way she pressed her hips into his. He released the suction and instead set his teeth into the edges. Her head completely fell away and she moaned beautifully. He pulled his teeth off and pecked the now reddening spot before stepping back as much as he could with her hands still wrapped in his shirt.

 

“I can’t believe I am saying this, but you are a fucking cocktease, Dee,” Nora tried to look angry at him, but with her flushed face and kiss swollen lips, it didn’t have much effect. He threw up an ‘I am offended’ air and stance, clutching his hands to his heart like she wounded him.

 

“I would never tease you, Prof. I am simply thinking of my own safety. What would the guys think if we practiced our dance from last night?” He could have ducked; she nearly always projected when she was going to pop him. He could, but he never did. This one did hurt though, so his ‘overacting’ wasn’t much ‘over’ as he hissed between his teeth and pulled away.

 

“Out. Now.” Deacon gave a dramatic whine of protest before stepping out of the room. So easy to rile up and so fun to do it. He’d have to find more of her weak points, if he got a chance again. He watched the area while listening to the sounds of clothes being pulled over flesh. He also caught a couple of grumbles and one wistful sigh, making him mentally grin. If she got that uptight about some light teasing, oh the things he could-

 

“Dee, help me with my hair please,” Nora called, allowing Deacon back inside. She passed him one of the bottles of water before shaking her hair loose. There wasn’t much blood left, but what was there was caking in quickly. He held out the long soft locks away from her body and poured the water. He got it wet before rubbing his fingers over the sticky spots. He needed half of the second bottle, but she was fresh and clean now. He looked around the room and saw her blood stained gear fanned out over the rubble. The shirts were slightly damp from the now empty third bottle that was under them. “You or you and I can run a refill trip out here tomorrow,” Nora said, wincing slightly as she rang out her hair. Deacon answered with a whistling tone as he took the mass of hair away from her and made quick work to put it in a thick braid then rolling it into a bun. She pulled her hair tie to trap the nest of brown to her skull before hopping up. “Onwards, Dee?”

 

“After you, Prof. “

 

 

MacCready was glad to see Nora could back, looking refreshed. Course, he also saw that the hickey that he noticed earlier was _back_ and that there were welts running down the fu- the idiot’s neck. Gone for a little under 15 minutes, there were some things they definitely could have done. Mac felt a roll of jealousy again; just like this morning. He wanted her to look at him like he actually had a shot with her. He knew that she had given him a very open invitation this morning and to everyone while on the hill, but it still felt like she was out of his league. She and Preston ran the Minutemen, Deacon helped save Synths. Hell, Hancock ran a whole town. What did a hired gun have to offer a woman like her?

 

And then she caught him staring, and frowned before walking over.

 

“Mac, for the love of all that is holy. Stop. Scowling!” She grabbed at his face and pulled it close to her own before running her finger in between his eyebrows. Mac felt his body stiffen and a flush try to start up. It still got him sometimes how _easy_ physical contact was to her. Touching someone’s face was as easy to her as grabbing someone by the collar to pull them out of the line of fire. And she was constantly petting him there. It had been her pet peeve since she hired him. She said he was going to age himself 6 months for every time he ‘scowled’, wherever that word came from.

 

Still, it didn’t look right to have your boss pet you like a puppy, and MacCready quick snagged her hand away. This time, though, he swallowed a bit of his nerves and held on to it. She didn’t pull away and instead squeezed it for a moment. “How’s the ant harvest going, Mac?” She looked back over the corpses Danse and Strong had piled up.

 

“Easy going, Boss. I forgot Danse lived in the Capital Wastes before. He and the big Raider are chopping them up pretty good. Strong keeps finding more and more, so we’re going to eat really good for awhile. John and the older guy have been working on the Deathclaw, saving you the good parts, while me and Garvey keep watch. Was that really its… butt, you shot up into? Thought it was its lady bits.” MacCready made note of the fact that she had held onto his hand the whole time.

 

She grinned widely and laughed like a crazy person behind her teeth. A shiver went up MacCready’s back; she only did that laugh when something was about to, or had already, die a horrible death. “Well, see, with reptiles, their bits are in the same area as their ass. They poop and mate in the same hole. I am just glad some part of a Deathclaw is the same. Still think they look like a dinosaur fucked a demon.”

 

“Hope the demon was the dad, otherwise he’d be mighty ‘Saur’,” MacCready smirked as Boss snorted up her nose at his bad pun. She finally let go of his hand and slapped it over her nose and mouth. Hancock might win with the dirty stuff, but MacCready could pull a pun from anywhere and get the Boss to laugh.

 

“Oh god, Mac, I know you don’t get the reference, but you’d win at Dad jokes if there was a contest,” Nora said between her giggles. MacCready _was_ a dad; pretty sure he got the reference. After a few moments, she calmed down enough to continue her survey of the guys, allow him the time to look at her.

 

She had some of the darkest brown eyes he’d ever seen. Both his and Lucy’s were shades of blue, and he had never really paid attention to the eyes of his past employers or his few one night stands. Except for the couple of ghouls he slept with cause they were _very_ noticeable. Her hair was wet and tied up on her head nicely, which gave him full view of that hickey again. He was just as quick to notice the change of its shape from this morning. It was definitely fresh. MacCready guessed that she had used a stimpack to erase the earlier one, but the dam-dannng spy had to have just given her the new one.

 

His eyes continued to scan over her. The T-shirt was big on her, hiding some of her curves. Not her chest though; it would have to be a Danse sized shirt to hide those. ‘Greatest tits in the Wastes’ really wasn’t far from the truth. He had felt them pressed up against him a few times, whenever they had to hide from danger. They felt soft, something that would roll nicely in his hands and-

 

“Like,” Mac looked up to her face, seeing her smirking at him, “what you seeee, Mac-hun?” MacCready flushed some at being caught staring and pulled his hat down some to hide his face. Checking her from the corner of his eye, he watched her eyebrows dance, making him snort himself.

 

“Can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t, Boss,” he admitted which brought a beaming grin to her face. “Oh, I know. Most of the Wastes’ ladies are so flat-chested. Makes mine look like mountains. My mothers’ were actually nearly twice my size,” Mac couldn’t help as his head whipped around, his eyes scanning her face first for a lie, then back down to her chest. God, _twice the size?!_ Nora gave him a leer that could easily rival John’s as her hands came up to adjust his coat and then his scarf. Her fingertips brush over the right side of his neck, teasing, almost tickling.

 

“Course, hate to say it, but your seduction game is way off,” She tugged at his scarf a bit rough before pulling her hands away. “I mean, really, you definitely _cannot_ serenade a woman. Sorry, hun,” She patted his shoulders and started to walk off.

 

“Wait, Boss!” Mac’s hand reached out and caught hers, and from her face, she had been expecting him to act. “Sh-Crap, Boss! I’m really sorry about that.” She cocked her brows, waiting. “That was really stupid. I mean, we already talked about this stuff this morning and there wasn’t any reason to mess with Garvey. But it really wasn’t directed at you.”

 

“Mac, it takes two to tango. _I_ seduced _him_. This wouldn’t be a big deal if Preston had gotten some with someone outside our group. Hell, I’d be congratulating him, cause oh my god, he _cannot_ flirt. I literally had to ask him if he was even seduceable,” Nora threw her hands up, and Mac caught just about everybody looking over to check on them. Everyone always watching her.

 

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I mean, not like I should be feeling jealous.” MacCready scratched through his goatee. Her face turned softer and she turned his face to the side, kissing his cheek. Some of the tension left MacCready’s shoulders and she turned his eyes back to hers. “You shouldn’t, but I’m not too mad. Just. Don’t. Sing.” MacCready nodded and ‘ooffed’ when she latched on to his middle and squeezed him. He hugged her back, only to hiss and flush up again as she left a butterfly kiss on his ear lobe. “Be good, little Mac, or momma will have to punish,” MacCready _could_ have been seduced if she hadn’t called herself ‘momma’. Since she did, though, he snorted hard and half collapsed into her, laughing. “Oh come on, I was really trying.” Nora pulled her face out of his neck and gave him a pout. MacCready tried to be polite and cover up his laughs, but the indignant face of hers didn’t help. “Oh, come on, Boss. After all the times Hancock tells people to call him Daddy? You can’t just…” And that made them both break down, until the two were leaning on each other just to keep upright.

 

When she _really_ gets to laughing, like now, it’s a wheezy laugh. Like she’s not taking any new air in. Her face gets so red, and she’s complained before about getting headaches from laughing so hard. She still does it though. “Oh shit, Preston’s first time meeting Hancock!” Boss literally fell into his arms now and he has to lean them both into a wall. He controlled himself long enough to drop his voice into a deeper smoker’s gravel. “So your Princess’ man on this side of the Common Wealth? I’m her Daddy from Goodneighbor.” MacCready couldn’t even get Hancock’s greeting completely out as they slide down the wall, laughing with tears in their eyes. The arrival of boots next to them didn’t stop either of them from laughing themselves sore. MacCready opened one tear blurred eye to see a puzzled Garvey looking down at them. It took a few tries, but MacCready finally gets out, “First time Hancock and me got to Sanctuary,” Preston darkens up like none other and smacks himself in the face with a long groan as he walks away, which just prolongs Boss and his laughing fits.

 

It takes a bit to stop, but feeling her half curled around him, trying to control herself and failing is a great feeling. She always takes longer to come down from a giggle fit, but she’s beautiful when she does. Flushed all the way to her neck, eyes sparkling and, if it was dry, bits of her hair would be up and out of place. She’s across his chest now, her face half pressed into his neck as she sucks in air. Her breasts are tight against his own chest and he can feel them move as she draws breath in. Oh, dang it; sometimes it sucks being young, he thinks as he feels his blood rushing to… places. He pulls a knee up and pushes her up a touch higher on his chest to avoid embarrassing questions. “Whooo, ok so I needed that. You good Mac?”

 

“Fine, Boss. Now let’s just not remember the time you cooked Ultra-Jet and-” She snorted so hard he felt her crack her forehead against his collarbone and the two were gone again.

 

“Did I hear someone say Ultra-Jet?” came Hancock’s voice, pulled up in a sing-song, which just made Boss worse. MacCready swore he felt tears leaking into his scarf as the ghoul swaggered over with a lit cigarette in his mouth. “We’re just re-heh heh ha!- recounting the time, she knocked. You. On. Your. As-Butt, Hancock.”

 

The mayor narrowed his eyes at him briefly before crouching down and winking. “Trust me, kid. I’ll take that trip again any time. Who’s the one that got to lay his head in Princess’ lap for two hours?” Hancock one up-ed him again, and MacCready tensed as the ghoul did a slow once over the two of them, twisting the burning stick to point at his crotch. The snipper pulled the giggling woman even up higher on his body before he jerked his eyes to tell the mayor to lay off. “Sure, I still ain’t lived that down with Fahr, but it was still worth it.”

 

“I-hehe- agree. It shut you up for two hours, Zombie Pirate King,” Nora added and MacCready snorted at the old nickname. She pushed herself mostly off of him to face Hancock and stuck her tongue out at the ghoul. MacCready coasted his hands down to her lower back, feeling her shiver against him. Hancock was _watching_ and grinning. He stayed in his crouch, but took one slow step closer. He could pull a sinister air out of nowhere and Boss shivered again, but she kept her tongue out. It was one of their games.

 

“Keep that up, Princess, and see what I do with that tongue,” Hancock growled low, a gleam coming to his black eyes. Boss tried to hold out, glaring down the man, until his hand blazed out to grab at the pink muscle. She squeaked, but then rolled the two of them away from Hancock, putting himself in the path between them. Hancock barked hard, clapping himself on the forehead as he laughed. “Uh huh, no way, Boss. I’m not getting inbetween you two.” MacCready pulled himself free from the woman’s grip before standing up and offering her a hand. “How can I get between the man who let me in Goodneighbor rent free and the woman who pays me a cut? It’s a no win situation for me.”

 

“You’d pick my side, cause you totally want in my pants?” Nora asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. MacCready couldn’t help grinning at that. Boss could be as bold as Hancock sometimes… until Hancock one ups _everyone_.

 

“Already been there, sister. Tastes pretty good for a scrawny kid,” Hancock said with a straight face.

 

Boss was stunned, and so was he. And _red_. “Jesus, man, _seriously?!_ Not the fuc-GRRR, freaking time!” Nora was gaping at Hancock, over to MacCready, back to Hancock and over several times… before she just held still and _blushed_.

 

_And she squirmed!_

Hancock was just beaming, before uping _himself_ , “He likes it when you dig into his back too. Couldn’t do it too good myself. No nails.” The mayor made the move to reach for the merc’s back, and MacCready quickly got out of the way, glaring at the grinning ghoul while his own face stayed blazing hot.

 

“General, I think I’ve fou-”

 

“PRESTON!!” and Boss, literally, leapt at the chance to leave the conversation; running for the Minutemen and jumping into his arms. “Let’s go do something! Oh, I know, let’s go get the wagon! Come on, come on,” she said this all in a frantic rate and pulled the bewildered Minutemen away. As _soon_ as they were out of earshot, MacCready wound up a hard punch to the ghoul’s shoulder, but could only connect half of it as he dodged.

 

“ _Seriously, Hancock_?! Isn’t one of the big things of your _rep_ is that you keep _quiet_ and let the other person mention it? And mentioning it in front of _her?_ ” MacCready snarled at the ghoul, before blinking. This was one of the few times that the merc could not read the Mayor’s face as the ghoul watched Boss leave.

 

“Easy, kid. I was mentioning it more of an invitation,” and just like that, cocky lustful Hancock was back. “See the way she moved?” Those always-watching, black eyes turned to his, making the fire start back up in MacCready’s stomach. “She liked the idea… that could be fun, huh?”

 

MacCready’s mind quickly followed John’s. Different ideas swam; Nora between the two of them, half screaming in pleasure as they licked every inch of her. Her watching the two men pleasure each other while she could only squirm and twist in want. He had to bit his lip to muffle a groan at the one of him hilted deep inside of her as she blew John. He was a flushed, shivering mess now as John practically purred by him.

 

“You aren’t making this easy for me out here, John,” groaned the young merc as he took off his hat and fanned himself.

 

“Want some help?” John did that freaking thing where his voice dropped and he seemed to be growling when he spoke. He could understand how it got Boss to shiver like she did.

 

MacCready frowned at the ghoul, but did a quick look over everyone else. Boss and Garvey were out of sight. That left Danse and Deacon and Strong with the two Raiders. Neither of them were armed, and the big guy was still favoring the arm Nora had snapped. Would be for awhile too. Served the as-bas- grrr _JERK_ right. The sniper knew there were plenty of little alleyways and half sheltered rooms that they could sneak off to.

 

“Way you are worked up, I’d just need 5,” Hancock add in a low whisper, adding a small backwards jerk to his head to signal where to go as he walked off.

 

MacCready waited and debated. Wouldn’t be the first time he’d taken John up on the offer. This time, though, he had someone very particular in mind that he wanted to do it with. Then again, so did Hancock, and the ideas that were swimming in the sniper’s head were not going away. Shouldering up his rifle, and giving the Mayor another 15 seconds, MacCready followed.

 

 

 

Preston was firm in his belief that he _did not_ want to know what had gone on between Hancock, MacCready and the General for her to literally jump into his arms to escape. It had to have been something, something worse than usual for the Mayor. Even MacCready was flushed red with embarrassment and the General… he had never seen her so red in the months he had known her. Even now, with her arms around his own – and said arm was pushed in between her breasts- and matching forward, she hadn’t lost much of the color. Of course, in this position, he was feeling his own face heat up. He would normally be mortified at thinking how soft they felt pushed against him, but now, he really just wanted to lean down and kiss her. When had he become such a hopeless romantic?

 

He’d been the diligent solider for years now. Helping people at a minute’s notice, just because it was the right thing to do. He’d seen his whole family do what was right all his life. Help others with food, water, beds if they needed them. His father had been a Minutemen too, before dying of heat stroke when Preston was 13. He’d worked hard to be of service to everyone he could.

 

Then the General came along and showed him how little he’d actually done. All the people she helped, the bad guys she’d taken care of, the widespread reach she had developed with his and others’ help, had far surpassed anything he’d done in his 29 years. And she’d done it in 6 months while battling a number of her own problems, smiling and laughing through most of it.

 

He’d been in awe of her from the start; she had killed a Deathclaw with a car. There was no way he couldn’t have been impressed with her. Then he learned she was a woman out of time, recently widowed with a missing son. He never thought he’d see her again after that week of training. Even after all the time the two of them put into Sanctuary to make it livable, and the small Minutemen jobs they did in killing the Raiders at the car factory and satellite. Even when Codsworth came back a week or so after she left, with a trading contract for Trash Can Carla. He should have known better; what kind of person takes time off to help others when her own kin is on the line?

 

The General, that’s who.

 

She had been apprehensive of the title Preston thrust upon her. It was well within her right, but he had felt it was the best. There was no way he could have led. He still, at times, felt nervous about even being her second-in-command. Something about the way she carried herself, even back when she was following some pre-war mind set, told him she was a leader. He set her off with directions to Diamond City at the end of the week. Still didn’t know how she got to Goodneighbor first, but she came back a new woman.

 

 

 

_‘Fuck, it’s bright as hell out here. Hi, Preston!’ Had been her first words back._

 

He remembered being floored first that she had come back at all. It’d been nearly a month since he had met her and nearly a full three weeks since she had headed out. Second was the fact that she swore as easily as breathing where before leaving, she looked upset by anyone saying hell. Her shoulders were more relaxed and she walked with ease now, thumbs hooked into her belt loops and a, for lack of a better term, swagger. With her were 6 people with pack Brahmin, all wearing some form of the Minutemen logo. He recognized Lucy from the Abernathy farm, but the other 5 were a mystery. She had pointed them to the feed troughs that lined the wooded side of the settlement as he approached.

 

He then noticed the three men and the woman that flanked her.

 

The most noticeable had been Nick. Preston had heard people talking about a synth detective, but to be honest, never thought they were true. When the yellow optics fell on him, Preston did his best not to show how tense he became. Nick saw it though, because his face softened and gave a tip of the fedora at him.

 

Piper had been muttering to herself, an unlit cigarette hanging out of her mouth as she furiously wrote down everything she saw. Turns out she was actually a pretty good artist too; she was even doing a few faces he found out later.

 

MacCready was quietly, looking about everywhere. His eyes stayed on the different turrets that they had been able to install thanks to Nora. His lip had lifted in the corner when he saw the small snipper’s post that the Longs had been trying to come up with. Nora noticed and gave his elbow a quick smack, bring the younger man’s attention back.

 

The most _surprising_ had been _THE_ John Hancock that was on her right side, looking around just as much as MacCready. Preston never got to meet the Mayor before, but he had seen the ghoul from a distance a few years back. Colonel Hollis had needed a place to bed their small troop down for the night and Garvey heard the Goodneighbor Mayor had even offered them a discount at the hotel, long as they did some good trade with Ms. Daisy. Looks like the last of the string blonde hair that he had at the time had been lost, but the coat, hat and cigarette were all the same.

 

Nora pulled a clipboard from off the back side of her harness straps as she approached him. “Good to see things are still working out. I _did_ tell Codsworth to come get me if you needed any help. Just to keep you posted, we’ll be leaving again soon. Finally got a lead on my Shaun,” She beamed at him, but he could still see the thick sadness behind the grin.

 

She pressed the clipboard in his hand and then flipped to the different- _color coordinated_ even- sections. “Ok, so first off, got two more traders coming out of Bunker Hill, starting tomorrow.” She flipped to the blue section. “This is a list of settlements I’ve started, and the map is where they are. I almost had two more, but they were just too damn small and in the shitiest areas and…” She looked back up at him when he jerked at her free curses. She blinked for a moment but then smiled. “Sorry, I am actually a pretty bad potty mouth. My grandfather hated it, but it doesn’t seem like a big deal in the Wastes. Do you mind?”

 

“Not at all, General. Actually makes it easier to talk when I’m not worried about offending you.” Preston gave a gentle smile, and she returned it, even reaching down and giving his forearm a gentle squeeze. The quick touch reminded him of the hard hug she had given him before, and he had to wonder just how easy with physical contact she was. She pointed back to the lists. “So yeah, I convinced those two groups to move to a more easily reinforced area. If any of them are coming here to settle, they’ll be with the traders tomorrow.” She flipped to the next section, which looked to be colored by red lipstick. “Here are the incoming supplies that I already paid for. Make sure who ever is taking them can read and check off each. That Cricket is a little… well,”

 

“Few tatos shy of a pot of stew?” came the raspy sarcasm of the Mayor, alongside a smirk as he flicked the cigarette away. “Now, Princess, where are your old-world manners?”

 

_Princess?!_

“Yeah, Yeah Pirate King. Stuff it.” Nora stuck her tongue out at the Mayor, flooring Preston. He had heard the ghoul was, in general, a man of the little people, but to _never_ piss him off. Watching this display, though, as the ghoul moved forward and tried to grab at the tongue, Preston wondered just what kind of charm the General could weave.

 

Nora dodged and gracefully twirled herself away from the ghoul, around Preston’s back and onto his right side. All on the tips of her boots, like a true pre-war dancer. Preston couldn’t help staring at her feet after she stopped at his side, wondering how that had been physically possible, but a quick throat clearing got him to look up again, slightly flushed.

 

“Preston Garvey, I would like you to meet some of the people I’ve met in the Boston Ruins. She is Piper Wright,” The black-haired woman waved as she popped some old world gum into her mouth and went back to her notes. Preston wondered where the cigarette had gone. “I told her about my… situation,” Preston’s face fell slightly, thinking about the General’s missing boy. “She’s done a piece on me already, now she wants to visit the Minutemen’s current base of operations to get a feel of how we are doing.” Well, if the lists were anything to go by, they were doing better than he knew about.

 

“Like to introduce myself, if you don’t mind, doll,” came the strange- at least for the area- accent of Nick as he stepped forward and offered Preston his left hand. Preston maneuvered the clipboard and took it, honestly glad for his gloves. Just what were synths made from? “Name’s Nick Valentine. She came to see me in Diamond City, though turns out she knew human Nick pre-war.” The General beamed and winked at his stunned expression.

 

“Well, I knew _of_ him. He was a detective they brought in from Chi-cah-gah,” Preston mentally noted the change in her accent and the soft chuckle that came from Nick’s throat. “I was actually, originally, born in the general same area. But I knew of Nick because all the women in the Distinct Attorney’s office were _in loveeeee_ with the guy. He looked mostly like he does now, but with black hair with silver at the temples and gray eyes. I know because Melissa would just. Not. Shut up. About him.” Nora rolled her eyes hard, her right side slumping like the idea was the most exhausting thing ever. Nick smirked and nodded like he could imagine.

 

“I do remember Nick being very popular once he came to Boston. Most of the ladies stopped after he mentioned Jenny though,” Nick added, though the name made his attitude sour. Nora reached over to his left forearm and squeezed it in sympathy.

 

“Melissa never did, though. Friggen snob-ish bi-”

 

A clearing of a throat behind them brought everyone’s attention back to the last two men needing an introduction. Nora smiled and offered her hand to the sniper who stepped forward. “This is Robert J. MacCready. I have contracted him and he’s a damn good shot,” MacCready gave both a prideful smirk as he stepped forward to offer Preston his hand. Short and lanky, the blue eyes didn’t hide the bit of temper in the younger man. Preston wondered what about him or Sanctuary that displeased the man.

 

“Contracted, General?” Both Preston and Nora noticed the short, under-his-breath scoff that MacCready did. The general frowned and reached forward and took the hat off the younger man’s head, much to his very vocal disapproval.

 

“Got a complaint there, Mac?” The sniper’s face contorted into a rather vicious, silent snarl, but he shook his head no. General nodded and tossed his hat back. “Yes, I am buying his gun arm right now. While in Sanctuary, he’ll be scooping out places for us to build up our long distance defenses.” MacCready affixed his hat and stepped back away from Nora, but kept her in his easy sights.

 

“And, lastly but not leastly, we have-”

 

“Gonna pull a Nicky and introduce myself, Princess.” Hancock stepped closer. Preston offered his hand before the ghoul gave his, sparking a small amount of surprise in the ghoul. Preston felt a bit of sadness well up. Even Hancock had people refuse his hand before?

 

His grip was strong and sure, though, a strong sense of uneasiness crawled up Preston’s chest as the Mayor broke into a smirk. “So your Princess’ man on this side of the Common Wealth? I’m her Daddy from Goodneighbor.”

 

Several things happened very quickly after _that_ little introduction.

 

Preston was absolutely stunned into silence and frozen in place, even as Hancock slipped his hand from his grip.

 

MacCready snorted so hard he doubled himself over at the waist before laughing from his belly. He quickly turned red and tears welled at the corners of his eyes.

 

Nick groaned from far to his right and a quick ‘seriously, John?’ was whispered from the synth.

 

The General shouted, “THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?!” before she dove for the man. She was a blushing mess as she chased after the cackling ghoul.

 

_“COME BACK HERE, YOU-YOU COCK-SUCKING, RADIATION-SMOKING FUCKER!!”_

 

Preston looked down again as the General gave his arm another squeeze. She smiled up at him, and leaned her cheek into his shoulder, making the Minuteman heat up. It was just so easy for her. He noticed that he had been lost in his memories a little longer than he meant to as they were now walking up to Bessy, Julie, Martha and Sue. The four large Brahmin heads looked up from their bits of dried tato and corn stems and mooed at her. She ran her hands down each of the girls’ noses, barely wincing when Sue gave her T-shirt a long, sloopery lick. She moved to the back of the wagon and stepped in to rearrange things. “Hm… think most of us will be walking on the trip back. Well, I guess it depends on how much meat is on the ants.” She shoved the armor box closed, even having to sit on it to get all the little bits and pieces back in. Clamping the lock down, wiped her brow before smiling down at him. He answered and offered his hand to help her out the back. As she stepped down, they bumped chest to chest. He was about to make an apology when she winked up at him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Preston felt his face glow as she pushed her face into the crook of his neck and sighed softly. Preston’s first instinct was to pull away; he was still so used to keeping his distance from Nora. She had his utmost respect, and until the other night, had never taken her innuendos seriously. She was as charismatic as Hancock; people in general flocked to her. Now, though…

 

He moved his hands to rub up and down her sides, feeling the way the muscles jump at little. He pressed a small kiss into her still drying hair, that lead to him trail more down to just behind her ear. He felt a shiver pass through her as his hands grew daring and started pulling the hem of the T-shirt up. The fingertips of his pinkie and ring finger caught her skin on the right side and the shiver returned. Feeling her hands squeeze him just a little tighter, Preston made another bold move and set his teeth into the top of her ear.

 

“Yessss,” was hissed into his neck and gave him his own shiver. Permission given, Preston nipped just a touch harder before licking the spot. His hand moved up under the rest of her shirt, feeling the heat of her back and the bumps of her spine. Her muscles jumped when his fingers snuck under her bra strap, and a wanting sigh passed from her lips. He leaned his own body back, which had her pulling her face away to look at him.

 

She had told them all stories about pre-war chocolate. Hell, she had actually found a few small pieces of the candy in cold storage in 111. It had been damn good, but after that, he could never think of it without thinking of the General’s eyes. Deep, brown that always looked warmly at him. They did quick movements as she read his face, and a bright as the sun smile pulled to her lips. She tilted her chin up just slightly, waiting for him. A quick smile ghosted his own mouth as he leaned in to kiss her. A rush of air from of her nose was joined by a soft, happy moan as he gently nudged her back. He knew the wagon’s back was about hip to lower back level for her, easy enough for him to lift her up and set her on.

 

Which he proceeded to do, getting a thrilled little moan/giggle against his lips just before she nipped his lower one. Her hands came up to his chest, sliding under his jacket and over his ribs. Her left passed moved back to his chest and further up to grab and hold on to the back of his neck. His own hands pet along her sides, crossing at her lower back before taking solid handfuls of her backside. Her lips opened and he took advantage of that quickly, his own groan filling her mouth as their tongues danced. She took hard fistfuls of his jacket and as she leaned back into the wagon, she yanked him in with her.

 

He grinned as she wiggled her brows up at him. She was already nicely flushed and bits and pieces of her hair had fallen out of her braid. He kept himself hovering above her with his knees on the outside of her hips and braced on one hand. The other ran a slow path from her collarbone, along the left side of her neck to the back of it. The playful seducing face turned to one of just general happiness as she leaned into his hand. Her hands squeezed his sides again as he leaned in to start kissing down her neck. Slow, kisses that left no inch of her neck alone. She let her head fall back more, sighing softly with her eyes closed as he reached the crook. There he ran his teeth along the skin, never biting, but the goosebumps forming showed Nora’s approval. Not to mention the hands that passed down his back to dig into his own backside now. He adjusted his legs; he gently coached her own with his knee until he was between hers, and nipped into her shoulder a bit as she threw one leg completely over his hips. Hearing the needy whine that was pulled from her by his nip, he decided to dig in a bit more. He took in more of the shoulder and sucked it, feeling her buck up against him as she gasped a ‘yes, Preston.’

 

“Oh, yes Preston indeed,” came the _most_ unwanted voice from the front of the wagon. Nora gave a very angry ‘gahhhhh damnit’ as Preston pulled his head up to, for once, glare murder at the smirking ghoul. Hancock was leaning against the Brahmin, his arm cocked up against the driver’s seat with his cheek in his palm. He looked at them like they were a very interesting show. Course, there was also a line of tension running down his neck, but Preston was not about to feel bad for being with Nora.

 

“Hancock, I never thought you’d be a fucking cockblock.” Nora snarled as she also glared at the ghoul. The ghoul chuckled low in his throat, which caused the General to shiver again. Preston was only able to tell because she was still wrapped around him. He knew that the woman was very sensitive to voices and he knew the Major knew and liked to use it. Preston, however, was not in the mood to play the ghoul’s game. After missing out on, for lack of a better phrase, putting on a better show for the General last night, the ghoul could kiss his ass.

 

In quick, but gentle motions, Preston tilted Nora’s face back to look at him and solidly kissed her. Her gasp allowed his tongue to caress hers as he then moved to pull her body tighter to his own, feeling her whole length shutter. She clutched onto him just as tight, so Hancock could just enjoy the damn show.

 

 

 

 

John’s fingers clinched onto the wagon’s seat like it was trying to get away from him. Hot damn, the younger man had a fucking pair on him today. The ghoul’s eyes were glued to the way the other man’s hand cradled Princess’ neck as their tongue obviously danced. Even better was the way her leg was thrown over his hips and he was rocking their pelvises together. Hot. Fucking. Damn. He heard the Minuteman groan deeply into her mouth, which just made Nora cling to him all the harder, back arching off the wagon bed. Play to the woman’s ears and she clamps down like a vice, it seems.

 

John licked the insides of his mouth and swallowed hard, groaning quietly as Preston released her lips and quickly set his teeth into the earlier bite area, pulling a keen from Princess. This was quickly turning into a great/horrible day for the ghoul. Fuck, he swore he still had a bit of MacCready in his mouth.

 

And yet, nothing happening south of the border beyond a tightening in his guts. Fuck, he was grabbing Joe once they got back to that vault; this shit just wasn’t-

 

“AHhhh!” Princess moaned and both legs snapped around Preston’s waist as he sucked up fresh hickie.

 

“Alright, alright, fucking mercy already,” John snarled as Preston glanced up, quickly and _smugly_ , before pecking Nora on the mouth and pulling himself free of her legs. Princess still growled and reached for the Minuteman again. “Lt. you come back here, right now.” Preston’s cheeks were dark and he was grinning, but he moved out of her reach. “Sorry, General, we really should get the wagon back to the others. We do have a lot of food now.”

 

Both men grinned as Nora rolled onto her front and thumped the wagon bed with her fists. “I finally get interested in sex again and I keep getting COCK BLOCKED AHHHH” John couldn’t help the bark of laughter as the pre-war woman’s hands grabbed onto her braid bun and pulled while she flailed like a nut. After a few moments of the arm flailing and feet kicking, she lifted her head, pointed and squinted at John and said, “I blame you, Common Wealth Casanova.”

 

The ghoul just grinned, giving her a two-finger salute. “I think I read that one. Rich guy from a pre-war place called Italy, right?” John hopped up into the driver’s seat and started wrangling the reins of the girls as Preston took them by their nose halters to get them started. As the wagon started to move, Nora hopped up into the front seat with him, giving him a good shoulder shove too.

 

“That was him. Course he was old world before I was born. If the stories about him were true, then he probably had every disease ever imagined.” Nora snickered and wrinkled her nose at him.

 

And there she was; gradually leaning into his side as they made their way down into the town. His feisty, crude, yet sometime virginal-blushing friend that he’d practically given up Good Neighbor for. What was the old line from Silver Shroud? ‘Protecting the weak and judging the guilty’ or something along those lines. She’d run into a burning building to get a settler family out before charging like a demon out of hell after the raider that set the place on fire.

 

It had been lust first, no lying about that. She came into town busted to hell and back, but after fixing her arm and Med-xing her (which he was NEVER going to give her a full syringe again) she pulled herself back in from the fun and sexy sleep-deprived woman she had been at his gate.

 

 

 

_“First time in Good Neighbor? Can’t go walking around without insurance.”_

“Oh for Fuck’s sake,” Hancock snarled as he looked behind him. Fahr snickered as she lit up her own cig and followed his line of sight. Fucking Finn was at it again with that extortion shit. The major walked a bit further down the alleyway to see if the new arrival needed any help. A dirt and blood covered vault suit was all Hancock needed to see to get him royally steamed.

 

“A vaultie? You’ve gotta be shitin’ me?” Hancock snarled as he started forward, ignoring the huff from his second. He spit the cigarette from his mouth as he took in the whole scene. It was a woman, fair age and still damn good looking. Her brown hair was pretty damn long, even for a vaultie that has never had it used against her in a fight. Least it was up in a ponytail; easy to bun up. Her right arm was completely limp and he was positive it was dislocated based on the limpness and the imprint of a bat on the vault suit. At least one bullet hole in her leg, likely glancing blow from the angle, but it was still bleeding. Deep purple bags under her eyes and a wobbly stance didn’t bode well for the woman having eaten or slept in ages.

 

At her feet was a large, and obviously very protective dog. John noted it was easily the most furr-ed dog he had ever seen. On her right, hovering and sounding worried, was a functioning Handy. Damn, Charlie was going to be interested.

 

“Look, sweetie, darling,” the woman’s voice was coated in sugar as she tried keeping her eyes on Finn in front of her. A shiver went down Hancock’s back at that tone. Oh, did a certain ghoul have competition in the sweet-talking arena? “I don’t want trouble; I’m actually looking to trade. But I haven’t slept in 4 days and I am completely lost in Boston. So how about we just forget we saw each other, and I go find a nice quiet bench to sleep on. Sounds good?” She wobbled harder and the Handy tried to balance her with one of its arms. The dog whined and licked at her good hand.

 

“Now, see, that’s the whole point of insurance, lady. You hand over everything you got, and we’ve got no trouble. No mess, no fuss, no big. Bloody. Accidents.”

 

Hancock crossed the corner and was just reaching for Finn’s shoulder. “The only big bloody accident that’s going to happen is-”

 

 _BLAM_ and Finn was on the ground, clutching his foot, howling like a wet-nosed Diamond City kid.

 

John’s head snapped back over to the vaultie, who now had a pea shooter of a pipe pistol in her left hand. She was shaking her head, trying to clear her vision. “I didn’t kill him, did I Codsworth-sweetie?”

 

“No, mum, caught in right in the foot and he’s down. But I dare say, you gave that fellow a right good fright.”

 

And then she saw him. She stared. Didn’t ruffle him, he’d never met a vaultie that didn’t stare, but it had been the next words that would be permanently etched into him.

 

“Oh, nice. Sexy Zombie Pirate King to the rescue.” The woman winked, clicking her tongue over her teeth as she put the pistol into a holster slot around the back of her waist.

 

“Ghoul, mum. I do believe he is a ghoul as Mister Garvey mentioned.” The Handy corrected her and even the dog whined at her.

 

“Riggghttt, ghoul ghoul,” she smiled at him and winked again. “Sorry, don’t mean to be rude. Is he one of yours?”

 

Hancock didn’t know if he wanted to laugh his head off or kiss the woman’s smart mouth. So, he settled for a quick bark, kicking Finn’s still howling self in the ribs, and walked over to her. “Damn, sister, you were aimin’ for his foot? Would have been easier if you just popped him between the eyes.” He stepped into her bubble just a hair; the dog sniffing him like crazy. The dog blew hard on his boots before sitting at her heel.

 

She was obviously watching the mutt’s reaction to him before she turned her eyes back up. She was looking all over him, eyebrows going up at his clothes, but she mostly stayed to his face. No out-right disgust, what a change, but heavy on the curious and a touch of pity. The wobbling was-

 

And down she fell, and John made sure it was straight into his arms as he knelt them both down to balance her. “Easy, sister, easy. Got ya. I’m gonna get you inside and get ya seen. Name’s Hancock and I’m the mayor this town. You won’t be getting anymore trouble today.”

 

“Nora. Nora Black. Thanks Mayor,” her voice was getting uneven and she was trying to keep her eyes open and looking at him. Direct eye contact and she was determined to maintain it. “ ‘hat’s Dogmeat and Cods. We’ve… we’ve,” she was losing focus.

 

“Please, Mayor Hancock sir, we have trade. Please, a stimpack for my mistress and you can have all that we-”

 

Hancock hooked his arm under her knees and lifted the woman up like she was nothing. Well, not nothing; those hips definitely had some heft to them. “Easy, Handy, you can hold on to the trade until she’s better. Come on you two,” Hancock added an attempted-quick whistle that got Dogmeat’s ears up and he pranced off behind him.

 

She was a groaning, barely conscious mess by the time he got her up to his main room and onto his couch. He sent a few of the boys out to find her some decent clothes and to take care of Finn. Didn’t really care at this point how they did it. He went over to his stash and got his general med kit and dug in for a few syringes worth of Med-X. He turned back to his new sleepy patient and had to stop himself from grinning as the mutt laying his head on her stomach. Looked pitifully cute, but hard-ass Mayor Hancock was not going to show it. “Alright, Handy, you’re my witness. I’m not going to touch her without reason and keep that mutt from biting me.”

 

Dogmeat showed his teeth at the word mutt, but he sat down out of Hancock’s way. John smirked at the dog as he pulled and threw off his coat and pulled up his sleeves. He ran his hands, pits and all, into a bucket of water and with some soap before taking a stool and sitting down next to her. The vault suit’s zipper was half jammed with blood, but it finally gave under some pressure. Yup, dislocated with a nasty bruise forming. Easy enough to fix, long as he didn’t allow himself to be distracted by-

 

WOOF!

 

John jumped and glared down at the dog and would swear to his last breath that the dog was glaring back at him. “Shut it,” he snarled as he got the fresh Med-X ready. “Hey, sister, still with me?” a groan was his answer and a cackle was pulled from his throat. “You take any chems before? Got something for pain but some of you vaulties are allergic.”

 

“Chems?” came her very tired question as she rolled her head to her Handy bot.

 

“I’m afraid I don’t know, mum. If it is anything like morphine then,” The robot mused and Hancock’s mind went a-tickin. Old world drug, used in surgeries, Daisy said the last she’d seen of the shit was about 60 years ago.

 

“Oh, hell, I remember that trip from when Shaun was born,” Ok, there was a kid involved in her life. But more importantly, how could a likely 30 to 35 year-old woman have any idea what a morphine trip was like? “Please give me some of that, Mayor.” She rolled her head back to look at him and gave him another saucy wink. He couldn’t help smirking this time.

 

“Mayor Hancock, please excuse my mistress. She has not slept since we left Sanctuary and she is normally not so… forward.” The Handy was embarrassed for the woman.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Governor Pfeiffer would be sooooo mad at me,” the woman snorted hard before dissolving into gaspy giggles and her eyes closed. So, he knew what a Governor was, but…

 

“Hey, Codsworth, right?” The Handy confirmed his name. “I’m getting the sense you two got one hell of a story to tell. I want to hear about it when she’s healed up.”  He yanked the syringe’s cap off with his teeth and reached to smooth a section of her neck’s skin. Finding a nice green line, he pushed the chems into her system… and had to scoop her up from falling off the couch as she passed clean the hell out. A barking, snapping dog and a high-pitched worrying bot deafened him as he reworked her dead weight back onto the couch. “Alright, Codsworth. Note to any other chems in her future; she’s damn sensitive to them. Does she drink?” Hancock found her pulse point and counted; slow as shit, but still strong. Not od-ing then; he’d need a different kit for that. He cupped his hand over her mouth and nose to feel the breaths. Everything was slow but working.

 

“Oh! Hm, the last dinner party she had was with the Mayor of Concord. I do believe it only takes her 3 Jack and Nuka’s to get… oh, I believe she said ‘fuzzy’.” Codsworth was ‘pacing’ for lack of a better term on the back side of the couch.

 

“Mayor of Concord now,” Hancock shook his head at the fucked-up shit and set himself back to work. It was a good thing she was out cold as he had to pull her whole arm out of the sleeve and shove it back into place. He checked down on her leg, pulling the small hole this way and that to check on her thigh. Just a graze that’d heal up with a stimpak. He started yanking the rest of the suit off of her to get cleaned, when the dog snapped at him.

 

“Alright mutt, the fuck is your-” and the dog climbed up onto her form and... protected her modesty. “Hey, Handy. Just how smart is this dog?” Hancock still maneuvered the suit down and off from under the dog before tossing it to the side.

“Very, sir. I would rate him at easily the smartest dog I have ever met in my 210 years. Far smarter that the mistress’ little monster she and Mr. Black had before the bombs.”

 

Hancock’s eyebrows were really up now. So, married, baby with a two centuries old robot who basically said that this woman was pre-war. Cleaning up the last of her general cuts and finally giving her the stimpak, Hancock _really_ wanted to hear this story.

 

She slept for two solid days. The mutt never moved, not even when Hancock tried to get her into a decent dress. He had to fucking _negotiate_ with the mutt just to get a blanket over her and then the dog was right back on her. Fahr had to be the one to ‘wake’ her up for trips to the bathroom. She never showed awareness during those times and only started walking by herself around 9 o'clock in the evening on the third day. He tried getting her back inside, since she was still in nothing by her underclothes and that blanket, but the mutt never let him close.

 

So there he was, dress in hand, sitting down smoking a cigarette on his balcony, while watching to make sure his unaware patient didn’t stand up again to show her goods to all below. The mutt was sitting tight to her side, licking her face inbetween his glares at the Mayor. He didn’t want to, but he was really starting to warm up to the mutt. Good protector to his mom, even if John wasn’t a threat.

 

He stiffened as he noticed her starting to blink, her forehead wrinkling. “Anyone in there?” he half sang as he watched her slowly start to come back. “Hey there Princess,” she turned to him, her eyebrows frowning. “Got a couple of questions for ya. What’s your name? And what’s the mutt’s name?”

 

“I’m Nora Jean Black, and he’s Dogmeat… and you’re… a ghoul, not a zombie,” She reached up to rub her head hard. “Wait, just… Hancock, right? Mayor Hancock?” she asked, and already John noticed a difference in her tone from the one she used in the market.

 

“Good. What’s the name of the Handy you came in with? Also, do you remember what brought you into my little town?”

 

“Codsworth and I was trying to get to Diamond City. I think I got turned around…” then she looked down and noticed her state of dress.

 

She _squeaked_ and turned the reddest red he had ever seen as she gripped the dog and held him even tighter to her front.

 

Hancock had to pull his hat down and cover his mouth just to hide how hard he was laughing. “Hey, Princess, I’ve been tryin’ to put a dress on ya for three days now. Blame the mutt; won’t let me or my lieutenant near ya.” Hancock tossed the sundress over and kept his head down. He loved a woman’s body as much as the next man, but he was never one to flirt or impose himself on someone not fully well. A few grunts and obvious sounds of the dress being tight in an area or two, but after a few, “Decent there, Princess?”

 

“Yes, Mr. Mayor,” John turned his head up and bit down a leery smirk. Hot damn was it tight on her chest. But now was the time to be a gentleman as he stood up and offered the woman his hand. She took it, jumping just slightly at the obvious texture difference, before using him and the railing to pull herself up. The pale blue dress looked damn good on her peach/rose skin.

 

“I helped your Handy with the trade while you were out,” he escorted her back inside and on to the couch. He took the armchair on the other side. “Mostly took the caps, bot said somethin’ about you needin’ them for a Preston. Did use some to fill you up on all the 10 mm and .38 we have in town.” Hancock cocked his head to her now organized pack of stuff with her clean vault suit on top. “Now, the fun part,” he stabbed the end of his cigarette into the tray and leaned back, throwing his leg over his knee, taking a ‘let’s talk serious’ position. She noticed and quickly followed, crossing her left hand over her right and setting them in her lap. Back straight and ankles crossed; she was ready for him.

 

_“How’s a damn pretty dame like you get stuck in a vault freezer for two centuries?” Hancock mentally grinned at the blush and the obviously ruffled feathers._

 

Hancock grinned to himself as he leaned into the woman who had her cheek to his shoulder. “I guess I have a new nickname now. Hancock, the cockblock.” He grinned as he felt her laugh into his shoulder now. He turned his face to kiss her hair bun and she started snorting through her nose. “Hey, pretty Princess, sorry for teasing you and Garvey. You two are damn hot together,” he felt her shrink up against his side and her face dipped forward. Red face time.

 

“Now we just need to get you both oiled up and against a wall with him behi-”

 

“PRESTON! HE’S DOING IT AGAIN!” Nora shouted and ducked her flaming red face between her knees and Hancock just howled. He could see the Minuteman in front of the Brahmin shake his head. After a few moments, and feeling her shake with quiet laughter, Hancock looped his arm around her waist and squeezed her. “Forgive me?”

 

She gave a _very_ dramatic sigh and righted herself into his side. “Oh, I guess. Who can stay mad at your sexy face?” Nora grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.

 

And fuck, all he wanted was cup the back of her head and feast on her mouth. He wanted to suck that slippery appendage into his own mouth and give her a taste of their temperature difference. Then he’d suck and bite down her neck since she moaned so nicely for Garvey when he chomped on her. He’d take his time with her breasts, covering them in dark marks, try to get her to come from just her nipples. Then he’d dive between her legs like a dying man, suck her juices down for hours until she fucking forgot her name.

 

But, in reality, he snapped his wrist and hand up to try to grab the pink muscle. She sucked it back in and grinned at him, fluttering her lashes. “For someone who calls on Christ as much as you, you are a sinful treat, No-raaa,” Hancock purred to tease the woman, seeing and feeling the deep shiver. “Oh, give me those body shivers, Princess,” he growled in her ear, pulling her tighter as she squirmed and contorted, half away and half into him.

 

“Stoppppp,” Nora whined and pushed at his face as her body just shivered harder. John grinned and kissed the woman’s temple as he and Preston pulled the wagon fairly close to the rest of the others. Hancock jumped down first and offered Nora his hand, and he kissed hers after she hopped down. She was still beet red and gave him a half slap to the chest.

 

“You keep this up, I might think you are actually serious about seducing me.”

 

Wait… WHAT?!

 

She tried to slip from his hands, and it took some concentration to not squeeze her hands too tight as he pulled her back to look at him. She looked at him confused for half a second before recognizing his not so great ‘I don’t like what I just heard’ mood. She was always quick to gage him.

 

“John?” she asked in that worried tone just as she squeezed his hand. Her eyes scanning his in fast motions.

 

“So, you _think_ I’m not attracted to you, Princess?” She could _not_ be fucking serious. After 5 months of following her in that tight ass Vault suit?! Sure, he wouldn’t have _stayed_ that long if it was only her ass that attracted him, but fucking damn.

 

She gave a small ‘are you really asking me that?’ smile, which just flared up his temper more. “Hancock, we are flirts. One of the reasons you and I get along so well. I understand that you aren’t. I’ve known for several months that your flirting wasn’t-”

 

He had to let go of her now; his muscles were tightening from his anger and he was _never_ going to hurt her. He needed to walk, need to fight with Tin-man. Fuck, give him another damn Deathclaw.

 

“John?” She was looking at him in all honest belief that he won’t beg her for a taste right in front of everyone else. Fuck, how could she believe that?! “Sorry, Princess. You’re wrong, but I need to… fuck, I need to walk.” He couldn’t stop the snarl that came from his throat as he turned to leave. Just as fast, she latched herself around his waist, pushing her face into his coat covered neck.

 

“Joh-”

 

“Let go, Nora,” and she jerked away like he had slapped her. Fuck, his heart was thumping in pain now. He looked over his shoulder and gave her sad face a half smirk. “I ain’t leaving, Princess. Just need a walk. First time in awhile, I think I need to think.” He adjusted his coat and clicked his heels as he set off. “We’ll talk later, sister.”

 

 

 

 

Fuck, her heart hurt like hell as she watched that red frock walk away. She wanted to chase after him, promise him that it was ok, he didn’t need to be attracted to her to be her friend. No matter how attractive she found him, she wasn’t going to force herself on him. But she knew this mood; the last time had been after an attack on Good Neighbor by a horde of synths and Fahrenheit had gotten hurt. He would do better in a sparring match, but he never liked to spar with her around. ‘Who are you gonna cheer for?’ otherwise know as ‘yeah, I know you don’t want to see us hurt ourselves’. Nora sighed and shook out her hands before turning back to the others. She would love to be wrong, but John’s body had never lied to her, no matter how many times they got close.

 

 

 

 

Her crew wasn’t watching him or Gage anymore. Shit, not like he could do shit with his still half healed arm. Gage was watching the guys as they walked around, but Mason was the one to notice the little cunt return. She looked teary eyed as she walked over to the Minuteman and rubbed her face into his shoulder. He snickered; how the fuck did such a prissy bitch make herself the fucking Overboss, anyway?

 

“Fight with someone to get her fucking misty?” Mason mused low, aiming for only the relaxing Gage to hear.

 

“GoodNeighbor. He was the only other one that went out that way. Doesn’t ‘rprise me if she’s misty over him. Them two’s real close. He watches her ass ‘bout much as you do,” Gage drawled under his breath as he played with one of the DeathClaw’s hands.

 

Mason smirked and licked the area where his lip had been split by… shit what was- Deacon. Not that the bastard had much to get pissed about. Fucking cunt _was_ a whore if she let two of her boys plug her in two days. He was gonna call ten types of bull shit on her ‘7 times pre-war’ shit. No way a man was going to have the rights to fuck that bitch and not use ‘em.

 

Mason licked his lip again slowly, eyes staying glued to that sniffling bitch in the black man’s arms. Oh, he’d make her cry, alright. Not cause a fucking ghoul ‘urt her widdle feelings, either. He imagined back to when he was leaning over her in the vault yesterday. This time, she didn’t have her backup and there were no piss-ant Cap raiders sneaking up on him.

 

He would have grabbed her by that pretty neck and slammed her head back into that metal wall a couple of times to stun her. Soon as she was stunned, he would have tossed her onto the floor and pinned her down with his weight. She’d have fought; she fights against everything, but he knew she weight next to nothing against him. A quick grab of that long-ass hair of hers, wrapped it tight around his fist, he’d have smashed her forehead into the floor to keep her stunned. His hand would then come around and rip that suit’s zipper down and back over that squirming ass.

 

It would have been harder after that to keep her wrangled as he loosened up his pants and drew his cock out. A quick pull to get her underwear out of the way and he would rub himself hard against her cunt. His hand would reach around and squeeze those busty tits, keeping the other hand in her hair as a leash. Finger bruises would bloom on that light pink skin before he pitched and twisted her nipples until she screamed. He would be rock hard by that time.

 

He would push her front half down even more while pulling her ass high in the air. His arm connected to her head would be stretched as his other hand dug deep marks into those thick hips. He would then slam himself home inside of her. For as big of a slut as she was, he bet she would have been wet even as she hollered for him to let her go. He would wreck her, stretching her wide. He saw her being an easy bleeder as her walls gripped down on his thrusting cock. He wanted her to scream, beg, and cry while he enjoyed her slicked up cunt.

 

After fucking her pussy for a few minutes, he’d pull out, spread her creeks even wider and push himself into her ass. There was no way she wouldn’t scream then; uppity pre-war bitch that she was, she never have had it up the ass. He’d _ram_ her then, digging his hands into that round ass. Fuck, he might even stand up just to fuck her into the floor. As he got closer to jizzing, he’d get his hand free of her hair and snapped it around her neck. He’d squeeze the breath out of her as he slammed himself as deep as he could to blow his load.

 

He wouldn’t kill her. Nah, he’d have kept her pinned down till he was ready for another go. Hell, he might have been nice and let her enjoy the second round.

 

Fuck, what a nice thought.

 

 

 

Gage rolled his eye at Mason’s deep, lusting chuckle. Damned idiot was too fucking obvious. The old Brotherhood man was watching the Alpha from the side and already moving over to run interference. General’s boys were too dedicated to her; she’d need to be completely separated from them for anyone to stand a chance of killing her. The General noticed too, and she smirked at the pack leader, which -stupid son of a bitch he was- fell for her bait and stood up. Gage sighed and sidestepped away from the idiot as the Brotherhood slammed Mason back into the wall behind him, aiming for the busted arm. Gage puts himself far away from the oncoming fight and set the Deathclaw’s hand back down onto the pile of meats. It barely surprised him that the General approached him versus helping the solider with Mason.

 

“He really is too damn obvious, isn’t he, Gage?” she asked him as she made sure to keep eye contact with his. Gage watched those dark brown eyes as she searched him. She didn’t need to worry; only time he even thought about ending her had been up when they were shooting the ants. Nah, the ghoul was practically leaning on him to keep tract of where he was aiming. He wouldn’t have gotten away so it had only been a passing fantasy.

 

“He is, Boss. He’s too damn interested in ya’r sex life.” Gage didn’t even wince at the obvious blows being thrown. Even outside that suit, the big fucker was a good match for the pack leader. He watched her watch them though, shaking her head.

 

“Fight with GoodNeighbor, Boss?” Gage watched her stiffen and one of her rare _real_ glares was quickly directed at him.

 

“That ain’t yo’r business, Gage,” Oh, she was really mad if that weird accent was coming out. She blinked hard when she noticed her slip and shook her head. “That isn’t your business, Gage. We need to start loading up the goods into the wagon.  Follow MacCready’s directions and load up.” She turned on her heel, but not completely around and stomped off for the Spy, who was miming something at her.

 

Gage shrugged and looked for the sharp shooter kid, seeing him over with the Minuteman and stepped over to them. “Your General wants things loaded, told me to come ta ya, kid.” Both men stiffened hard, the kid worse. Didn’t like being called kid. Gage didn’t give a shit.

 

Just as the kid was about to make a smart-ass comment, the General screamed.

 

Gage grunted as he was shoved out of the way by the kid as the two men ran for her. He turned in time to see the enemy and _wanted_ to laugh.

 

He’d been with that woman through all 5 parks of Nuka World. Nothing scared that woman. Not the psycho robots, bloodworms, ferals, Mirelucks or the damn Gatorclaws. Nothing got a rise out of her.

 

Except fucking rats. She’d send the mutant or Drake in to kill any rats that went skittering around her in the Safari Zone. She tended to climb something to get out of the way. He wanted to laugh.

 

But he didn’t because he knew just how dangerous that woman was against everything else.

 

She was currently climbing Drake/Deacon/ whoever the fuck. Looked like the molerats had come out of the store the two had been exploring. Neither of them had a gun in hand, though the General still had one in her holster. The Minuteman looped his rifle from his shoulder and took a knee to take aim at the ones still in the building. The kid dropped to a knee too, but he was good with long shots and the rats were too close. He shouldered his rifle and ran for the gun bag that was still on the power armor. The Brotherhood fucker had thrown Mason, bloodied and arm rebroken, to the side and had a small laser pistol blowing holes in the rats. The big ass Mutant had found her bat from earlier and was rather happily bashing the rats away.

 

Just as GoodNeighbor came running back, cocking a pistol, the rat queen slammed into Drake and knock him and the General to the ground. Fuck, death by Rat Queen? Gage stepped forward to stop that, just as she pulled that big ass pistol from her holster. Looked like a .44 mag from where he-

 

BLAMBLAMBLAM

 

Gage would have bet caps the rat was done in by the first shot, but she was panicked. She sat there, gun out, fucking _shaking_ while staring at the gun in her hand… before she threw the thing like it burned her. Might have from the way she was shaking and scrubbing the palm of her hand into the ground beneath her. GoodNeighbor grabbed the pistol and pushed it into his coat and everyone else but the mutant helped her and Deacon up. She shoved away from everyone, still shaking, and started screaming and kicking the bodies of the rats.

 

Gage gave the possessed woman a few more moments of kicking before stepping over. “We gettin’ back to that vault or we lettin’ her be a psycho for a bit longer?” The crew gave him different versions of disgust, but she screamed a roar and kicked the skull in of the last rat and turned toward them. Gage swallowed and wanted to take a step back; he’d only seen that look a few times, last time was as she stabbed Nisha to death.

 

“I _HATE_ that _FUCKING_ gun!!” She was shaking all over from anger as she stalked away from the rats toward the wagon. “Gentlemen, I would _very_ much like to head back to base now. Please?” She started scooping up the bits and pieces of ant meat and started to arrange them.

 

 

Leader was not happy. Strong not understand why. They make great kills today. Leader always good to watch when she attack with knife. Strong wished she was strong enough to attack with board like him. It not matter; she killed everything that came at her. Strong think she anger at males still, though she smells of female in lust. Strong not much chance to learn such smell until Leader take Strong to big human hive. Many humans, many smells and too many sights. Some humans even ask Strong to watch them mate. Waste of time; female already carry small human.

 

Leader marching in front of dark human and young male, while the armor human marched in front of them. Ghoul still driving the wagon while Sunglasses human sitting with him, facing the two raider humans Leader captured. They both sitting with all the good meat that Leader and others chopped up. Strong lifted the slab of Deathclaw meat Leader had given him to help his leg. Leader’s hand kept being shaken out by her waist and sometimes she rubbed it. The males kept looking at her, though Ghoul looking only little. Ghoul still had her loud pistol.

 

Once they come back to Vault, Strong pick up most of the meat and delivered it to other Leader’s Min-ut-men, who jumped out of his way. As he came back for more meat, he saw that Ghoul and armor human were yelling at each other over Leader. A loud ‘Shut up’ from Leader had all others moving meat into Vault. Leader walked by his side as they went to his bed area.

 

“Strong, I am going to try to make you a second teddy bear from the Deathclaw skin.” Leader helped him with his blanket as Strong settled in. “Did you have fun today?”

 

“Strong had fun killing Ants, Leader. We find more?”

 

She smiled and smacked his shoulder. Strong thought it was Leader’s way of giving Strong hug. Leader liked to give other humans hugs. “We’ll try Strong. Might be in here for a few more days. If we are, you and I can go back to see if there is more.” Leader got up to turn his lantern low as she left. She looked back at him and smiled as she closed the door.

 

Strong went to sleep wondering if he liked her lust scent more than her normal scent.

 

 

 

The Paladin and the ghoul were fighting, that much was obvious. It had been clear when she had returned alone and pushed herself into Garvey’s arms. He had seen the ghoul follow after them after his _secret_ alley tryst with Robert. While he would personally enjoy the disruption of their strange friendship, he never wished for his comrade to be in pain.

 

She rarely fought with her strange group of companions, himself included. She had a strange way of seeing your side of an idea, then convincing you of hers. She had made such a… logical argument to get him to work with the ghoul in the first place. ‘Look, you might hate ghouls, but _that_ one there can outrun any Brotherhood solider in an out of power armor _and_ has better aim than just about everyone up in the blimp. You walk in the front and he’ll walk in the back, and _he_ keeps his mouth shut, we all win.’

 

Now, though, he’d give up his power armor helmet just to slam the ghoul into a wall and make his apologies. Sadly, as Danse watched her come out of the mutant’s area, he saw her still shaking and scratching her hand. It wasn’t only the ghoul that would disturb her sleep tonight. He knew the power that particular weapon had on her, though it had been some time since a reaction this violent. The palm of her hand actually had cuts deep enough to have blood well up.

 

The raiders were escorted back to their holding room, though Nora quickly stopped them from entering. The Black Siblings were… engaging in a rather loud interaction. The Paladin wore a disgusted face, especially after Mason commented about joining, as she took him and Porter to a separate room with Curie and Codsworth to watch over them. Mason was given treatment, but no meal thanks to his attack on Nora. He would be lame in that arm for at least a few more days.

 

She continued her rounds, checking on Cait and her recent attraction. The other woman was very slender and looked to be a very fast runner. The three women held conference for a while. There was obviously much teasing and embarrassing questions being asked by Nora from the red, sour face of Cait and the sharp giggles and snorts from her companion. Through it all, though, Nora kept shaking and scratching at her hand.

 

All the other Minutemen and settlers pulled her this way and that with their reports and updates. Somewhere is the mess, Nora slipped away into the office and called for lights out over the Vault’s systems. Danse and ‘the crew’ were all in their sleeping area, looking between each other. It was a known fact that firing that weapon would spell nightmares for their leader. It was up to one of them to either help her sleep, or keep her company for the wakeful night. This was normally taken up by the ghoul, since he could actually be awake indefinitely (with enough radiation in his system) and chose when he slept. As they looked, though, the bastard was curled up facing the wall with her tricorn covering his face. The ex-Brotherhood man felt pressure build up behind his eyes at the lack of concern from the man as he stood up. He waved the others back down, noting the most were stunned by the ghoul’s surly nature, and walked away. He stepped downstairs briefly, collecting the group’s wide range of weapons in a pack and cleaning materials, and moved to the office.

 

She was covered in dogs tonight, along with a thin blanket and pale blue sleeping-sundress.  Danse wondered just when she had turned in as he quietly laid the weapons and supplies on a different bed. He unfolded his sleeping mat on the floor, transferred the weapons just as quietly to it and laid himself down on the mattress. Folding his arm under his head, he rested his eyes and went through his meditative breathing practices.

 

“… ughstop,” the distressed voice had his eyes back open in moments. Getting up and looking over, he saw Dogmeat already up and headbutting her to wake up. The pups whined and mimicked their father. But Nora was routinely hard to wake up in the middle of a nightmare. “…not… not them!” Danse reached for her shoulder, trying to ignore the way his mind took note of how soft and warm she was under his hand. Synth’s were machines and not meant to feel; he knew he was defective for thinking how much it hurt him to have her so close and knowing he shouldn’t touch her. He shook her gently as she continued to talk to her abuser. “… Nick! Help!”

 

“Nora!” Danse pleaded as he took her by both shoulders and rolled her onto her back, still shaking. The movement woke her, gasping and fighting against him. “Shh, Paladin, it’s me.” And after a quick sigh of relief, she pulled him down enough that she could wrap her arms around him.                

 

“You’re alright,” she whispered, and he could feel the strong tremors rolling through her body, but his own body went still. He missed her easy affection, but he could not allow himself to enjoy it. He had spent too long as a defective machine, he fooled himself into being human. He took a deep breath, slowing it out through his nose and gently pulled her hands from him.

 

“I am alright, Paladin,” He coached her to lay back down, and mentally smiled as she was covered in licking dogs. “Was it the one where we were all locked in the vault?” questioned the man, knowing several of Nora’s nightmares repeated themselves. She pulled Junior up to cover her head, wiping her tears into his fur, before looking back up at him.

 

“Yes… he was shooting each of you one at a time. It changed at the end… though I can’t remember now,” she stared up at the ceiling, refusing his eyes. “Ughhh… whelp, I’m not getting back to sleep.” She looked over at him with a self-deprecating smile. “Whatcha wanna do?” Danse’s lip pulled up at that accent; it was rare to come out, but oddly cut-

 

He clapped both of his hands to his face and breathed out hard. No.

 

Her eyes were sad when he next looked at her. He knew how much she missed being affectionate with him, like with everyone. She respected him, though, far more than any human should, and knew not to. “I brought the weapons in. I hope that keeping your hands busy will take your mind off… certain Mayors who should remain nameless,” Nora snorted and giggled into Junior’s belly at that.

 

“Ah, but Danse, just as it takes two to tango, it takes two to have a fight.” She kissed the pups and pulled herself to sitting up. “Alright, you three take Danse’s bed. We’re going to be working tonight.” Dogmeat ohffed softly and hopped down. Danse went over and grabbed their supplies and sat on the other end of the bed.

 

And that was how they were for the rest of the night. Different weapons in hand to be cleaned, fixed, and ammo clips reloaded. Somewhere in the night, his legs stretched out and hers rested on top of his. It was their old position, at ease with a close comrade. He still stopped his mind from going over just how much he missed this contact or how smooth her legs looked against his blue jeans and black chaps. She hummed while she worked; sounded like that PipBoy jingle she tended to drift to. He tried to stop himself from letting his eyes run and up and down her body. There was already light discoloration going under his eyes, but other than those, she was beautiful. Shapely in frame with growing musculature where it was needed. He cursed himself for watching her chest move as she breathed. So beautiful… he was glad she had taken to Garvey so well. The spy… he didn’t understand how that had happened, but he decided to call it a curiosity-lead romp. If she was becoming sexually active again, then…

 

Gentle, rhythmic breath caught his attention and he saw a chin tipped to chest. He smiled at seeing her asleep again… but he doubted it would be for long.

 

 

 

______________

 

Thank you everyone for your patience *deep bow* My life sucks right now, and I was stuck in Preston's part for agessssss.

 

Yes, our favorite ghoul is upset. Does that mean he and Nora are next up in smut town? Yup.

 

Course there are some warnings that will be posted next time. PTSD event, rape flashbacks, Chems and Nora not mixing.....

 

 

potentially Main character death


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long awaited chapter. Many unhappy things are to follow. Warning, warning!!
> 
> I finally quit my job! Between the constant panic, high blood pressure and the suicidal thoughts, I'm very ok leaving it.

Hancock still wasn’t talking to her two days later. Not that there had been much opportunity to get him alone. With all the tech in the Vault and the scores of metal they peeled and melted away, they had been busy constructing a large satellite. Something that would connect Travis’ signal to the Caps. It was going to be a hard project since they didn’t have Sturges with them. However, they did have Danse and Codsworth so it was doing fine so far. Morning reports from Nick were getting clearer, so Nora took that as a good sign.

 

They had gotten some surprise visitors on day 4 of life in Vault 92. Traders, heading for and to the Wealth, had stopped by. The two groups had members who knew each other and the group from the Wealth knew her. News spread, contracts exchanged, and both caravans promised to tell others that Vault 92 was under her protection.

 

With most of her settlers hard at work arranging the vault into an apartment like complex, Nora made new plans. The bulk of her people still needed to head for downtown DC, but the roads needed to be cleared. So that’s where they were now. 5 Common Brotherhood members, two in power armor, 10 Minutemen, and most of her immediate crew. Codsworth was leading the pack today while Hancock was driving with Preston this time, and both men were quiet. Cait, Deacon and Curie were in the back of the wagon. Danse was to her far right, leading the members of the C.B. It gave her heart little patters to watch him so comfortable again. Mac trailed behind the wagon with her. Another deep sigh from Nora caused the young pup to growl under his breath and shoulder bump her.

 

“If you are going to be this moody, Boss, just talk to him.” Nora shoulder bumped him back and stuck her tongue at him. “Well, excuse me, Mr. Know-It-All. He said he’d come talk to me when he’s ready. Just…,” another sigh and Mac threw his hands up, “just didn’t think he’d need to think so long… I really fucked it up.”

 

“Ok, so what did you _actually_ say? Cause I’ve been around John in all of his ‘Welcome to GoodNeighbor so long as you know who’s in charge’ glory, and he never stayed pis-rrr mad for very long.” Mac asked, slowing his pace and watching for her to do the same.

 

“I said that I understood that he wasn’t actually attracted to me, and that I was fine with that… _WHAT?!”_ Nora and Mac gapped at each other with different expressions. “John’s a grade-A flirt. He was from literally the moment I woke up on his balcony. But he flirts with everyone; hell, he did it with a few Brotherhood members. It’s like breathing for him… well, us,” Nora winked her left eye and made a kissy face at Mac, who pinked up just a touch.

 

“I mean… it really sucks to say but… I think he really started following me because I was novel. ‘Oh, pre-bomb woman. Let’s put that one on the belt’… hey, I didn’t say I still believed that,” Nora argued when Mac’s face turned disgusted at the idea. “Look, everyone but John has a reason to follow me. Preston and I run the Minutemen, Dee and I saved people, Danse is leading the Common Brotherhood with me, and I _pay_ you… well, _paid_ you. Now we are just friends with flirty tones to them,” Nora leaned on the sniper and fluttered her eyes. For once, the merc didn’t blush and instead gave her a gentle push off. “I’m Strong’s leader because I’m the ‘carest’ human. Piper tagged along for stories, Nick for old world company, and Cait for my ass. Now that she can’t have it, she’s ready to leave. Who’s to say-”

 

“Ok, one, I really suggest you don’t lug Hancock in with Cait. Cait’s even more selfish than me, and you remember that fight _we_ had over that Diamond city paint.”

 

“Yup, and you called me moody then, too.” Nora wrinkled her nose at him as he threw his hands up again.

 

“You went to sulk in the Dugout for 6 hours!”

 

“I don’t like fighting with my _friends_ , Bob-by,” Nora popped her lips extra around her Bs, watching as the merc nearly tripped at that nickname. _No one_ called him Bobby it turned out; hell Danse was the only one to call him by his first name at all. To everyone else, it was MacCready or Mac. Oh, the scowl that got her. She grinned and reached for the space between his eyebrows, and he let her smooth the spot. After a few moments, the lines disappeared as the tension left him, but he still reached up to take her hand away… and snuck a quick kiss to her knuckles. Nora squeaked and jerked it away, watching the smile that crossed Mac’s face. “Cheater,” Nora wrinkled her nose again.

 

“Like I was saying, Hancock’s not like Cait. He isn’t chasing you for a one-time piece.”

 

“Mac, sweetie,” Nora stressed her tone, “He’s not CHASING me at all.”

 

“Boss,”

 

“Ok, Mac. Storytime. I can prove to you that John has no interest in me that way. Ok, it was… two weeks after we killed Kel-Kellog, and you, me and John were crossing back over to GoodNeighbor and Diamond City for trade. That’s the same week we picked up Cait. Ok, so as we rounded the corner…”

 

 

_It had been the first time Nora had really taken notice of the Pond. She had been so determined to get into the subway to find Nick the last time she was there._

 

“Keep it low, Princess,” John had whispered, placing his hand between her shoulders to push her into a sneak walk. The three of them, Mac high above them in the fire exits, circled the outside of the pond. “You sure you want to try this shit?” Nora looked to her side to see the ‘you’ve got to be shitting me’ look John had been wearing since the left the State House this morning.

 

“Hey, I’ve got a brand-new missile launcher and Mac’s got three big new guns to play with. If we kill this thing, it’ll help keep the route safe for my boys and yours.” Nora winked and nudged the ghoul with her shoulder and hip. John gave her a small smirk, but focused his eyes on the pond. _He_ was edgy; Nora knew this was going to be a hard one. They both looked up as Dogmeat slinked up to them, licking her hand and nuzzling John’s for a pet. “No mines around the edges, boy?” Dogmeat huffed up once and ran to an entrance, looking in.

 

Nora looked behind herself and caught sight of Mac already set up. She had loaded the kid up hard, thanks in part to John’s deep pockets for her chems. It really surprised her how easy it was to cook and sell the chems when so many of her other companions hated them. Hell, they weren’t illegal (since there were no established laws on them) and she was very upfront about what they were. John didn’t mind her selling in town. ‘Sometimes life is hard, Princess. Different people use different things to get by.’ They just agreed not to tell Nicky or Preston about those long hours she spent over a bathtub.

 

Nora waved two fingers in a circle and pointed them twice at the lake. She could just see Mac’s own hand come up twice before resting back on his weapon. She waited a few extra moments for him to reset before nodding. John flicked open his inhaler and did a long pull, before he and Dogmeat charged. Nora pulled the launcher up to her shoulder and watched the broken pieces.

 

Good. God. Almighty was Swan big! John’s grenade had blown water dozens of feet in the air and Dogmeat’s howls pulled the beast from the water. Just as planned, John and Dogmeat then dove hard out of the way as Nora slammed the monster in the chest with her missile. She also heard the tell-tell sound of Mac’s shot that was to aim for between its eyes.

What _didn’t_ go to plan was the fact that it was still alive, even with a huge chuck of its left side open and its right eye missing. John was at her side, dragging her away before she even full registered these facts. Thank god they were both fast as the thing started hurling rocks! John ran for a mostly broken down two-story house, hauling them both deeper inside as the rock smashed in the front wall. Opening a door leading to a small closet, they both climbed in and shut the door, just as bits of the house started to fall.

 

Through a few moments of panic, and clouds of dust, Nora took slow notice of their positions. John was underneath her, in a sitting position with his legs stretch out as much as he could in the tight space. _She_ was currently hovering over his lap with bruised knees planted on the outsides of his hips. His hands were cradling the back and top of her head while hers were around his neck. Best of all, both of their faces were trapped into the crooks of each other’s necks. She turned her head, cheek resting on his shoulder to look up. Half the ceiling had fallen and was just inches above her head. John’s knuckles could tap against it.

 

A loud snort came out of her nose and she pressed her face deeper into John’s covered shoulder. She could feel him smirk into her own as he also took notice of their situation. Half-hysterical giggles started up in her throat as she fisted her hands in the red coat and did everything in her power _not_ to wiggle her lower body. John’s fingers drummed a small rhyme into her hair as she tried to contain herself.

 

“Well, congrats, John. Yours in the first lap I’ve sat in in the last two centuries,” They both laughed now, John’s smoker’s cackle getting her right in the ear. Not a good time to be reminded just how sensitive she was to the ghoul’s rasp.

 

“Oh, Princess, you can sit there all day, long as the ceiling doesn’t crush ya,” He leaned his cheek into hers as he tested removing his hands from her head. After a few moments of the ceiling _not_ collapsing anymore, he placed his hands on her lower back, like a perfect, decent gentleman.

 

“We’ve got a problem; I bashed up my knees… not sure how long I can stay up.” Nora remarked, not wanting to sit down completely and risk making the situation _uncomfortable._ “Hope Mac can take care of that mess. I own him double for this trip.”

 

“Have to say, I agree with the double. Kid’s gonna probably go through everything you just bought him. S’alright, Princess. Go ahead and sit. Not nothing sharp to _poke_ ya with on the front end,” He snickered low and Nora bopped him on the back of his head for the joke.

 

“John, seriously, I’m not Wasteland light.”

 

“Oh, trust me, I _know_. That vault suit doesn’t hide shit. Set her down, I’ll be fine.” John patted her back gently and Nora tried to set herself as lightly on his lap as she could.

 

And so, they stayed there while shots and barks sounded outside. Nora timed it as twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of them chest to chest, ass to groin and not once, _not once_ , did John to anything crude. No gropes to her ass or attempts to snuggle his face into her chest. He was a perfect gentleman. Those parts she appreciated; she wasn’t interested in being fondled. What did surprise her was the complete lack of ‘involuntary’ reactions. Far as she knew, John was not restrictive in his partners and rumors abound of his… skill. The fact that he had _no_ reaction to her was… slightly bruising to her female ego. Not that she was thinking of taking anyone to her bed until after she found Shaun, but… she could have seen herself giving John a shot.

 

Course, once the mutant was dead and Mac and Dogmeat dug them out, Mac had made himself sick laughing at the two of them. The two of them, groaning from the aches of their positions, stepped outside.

 

_“Any time your legs try giving out on you,” John said around his cigarette, “my lap is available, Princess.”_

 

Nora finished her story with her arms and palms out reached to Mac, as a ‘see what I mean’ gesture. Mac was rubbing his goatee, covering his mouth in a frown… until he snorted hard and doubled over laughing.

 

“Oh, fuck you, Mac hun,” She turned and walked past the laughing man, throwing up two middle fingers for her trouble. It took a bit before the merc caught up with her, hand resting on her shoulder to stop her. He was trying to swallow his laughter, but looking at her angry face did him in again.

 

“General, looks like we have a town up ahead.” Preston called from ahead and Nora jogged up to get ahead of the cart. She grabbed Preston’s binoculars as she passed and checked the distance. A Billboard welcome sign, faded from the years, was still decently legible. Ca-te—ury was all she could see, but as she scanned the buildings, it looked like a well-worn town with wide fields of corn and tatos. Looping the binoculars around her neck, she scanned her PipBoy. Looks like it was Canterbury, and the VaultTech network actually registered it as ‘non-hostile’. That only came up if a PipBoy wearer had visited an area a number of times. She drummed her screen to think of how to approach.

 

“Mac,” Nora looked back for her sniper, catching him _trying_ to hold a conversation with Hancock. The fact that the ghoul was _ignoring_ even Mac was very telling of his current mood. Mac, face set in a snarl, flipped off the Mayor and jogged over to her. “Does that Lone Wander have a PipBoy?”

 

“Hm? Oh, yeah. Least I’m betting he still does. Why?” Mac pulled his smokes from the lining of his hat as he looked down his scope at the town.

 

“Mine is calling this place ‘non -hostile’. Means someone with a PipBoy has passed by a number of times. Be interesting to meet him.” Nora smiled, waving off Mac’s fresh smoke as she planned. Clicking her tongue to her teeth, she turned back to the others. “Alright. Looks like a friendly town up ahead. Minutemen and Brotherhood, you stay here until the Lt. and Paladin Danse receive word from me over the coms. Dee and Dogmeat, stealth around a wide circle and report back to Preston anything. Codsworth, I need an updated inventory of everything. Cait, Mac, Handcock and I are going in to establish ourselves. Everybody good?” Nora asked, getting a variety of confirmations.

 

 

 

“So, ya still not tellin’ us what c’awled up y’ur arse and died?” Cait snapped at Hancock as the four of them set off ahead. Nora sighed low, glaring as Mac snickered to her left. Cait was being Cait; if she couldn’t be Nora’s lover, she was going to do the next best thing and defend her from the world. Including grumpy ghouls.

 

“Besides that horrible accent of yours, not much,” Hancock snarled from behind Nora as he walked alongside the cage fighter.

 

“Seri’usly, what are ya on ab’ut? Just last week, twas nothin’ y’ur _Princess_ c’uld do to piss ya off, and now y’u’ve been carryin’ on for two days.” Cait snarled right back, swinging her bat in loops behind her back.

 

“Cait, sweetie. It’s _really_ not your business.” Nora looked over her shoulder to charm the two. Cait blushed and looked off to the side. Hancock gave her a dead eyed stare. Jesus, how long _was_ this going to go on? What did he even have to be mad about?

 

“Hold,” came the voice of one of the townspeople that saw them coming. “You lot got business with Canterbury?”

 

Nora pulled out her most ‘Pleasure to meet you’ voice and body language. “Hope so. We are actually from the Common Wealth. Heading down to Rivet City in the long run, but interested in trading with towns along the way. Name’s Nora Jean Black, this is my sniper MacCready, my hand-to-hand expert Cait, and my shotgun-to-the-brain man Hancock. We’ve got a bigger crew waiting down by the road if you don’t mind us coming up. If you’ve had any trouble with mutants or raiders recently, we can help out with that too, for trade discounts or caps.” Nora smiled at the middle-age man, up until he started shooting quick, uncomfortable looks at Hancock. “Trouble?”

 

“Not… not like you think, ma’am. No one in town’s got any problems trading with strangers, but we’ve got some other visitors who are trying to make a scene. Some wannabe Brotherhood types, trying to give our few ghoul neighbors a hard time. You handle yourself, sir?” Nora mentally grinned; someone who asks Hancock a direct question rather than asking her like she was his handler.

 

Hancock did the sinister scoff of his as he flexed his neck, adjusting his shotgun. “I handle myself just fine, and I’ll handle them if they are causin’ ya trouble.”

 

“No need yet, but if it comes to take, we’d appreciate it. Lucy and Quin have been good folks; brought the town new corn. Call up your crew, Ms. Black. Dominic’s good for any scalp and parts you got while you can trade chems and food at Porter’s Café and Bar.”

 

“And that’s where I’ll be,” said Hancock as he started past them all into town, half-stunning Nora. “I’ll warm up the bartender for ya, sister. Get the caps ready to trade.”

 

And off he went… Nora turned away from the man, looking at Mac and Cait’s bewildered faces, wondering if her own looked the same.

 

“What is that rad-smokin’ fucker’s problem?” snapped Cait again and looked to be ready to run after the ghoul.

 

“CAIT!” Nora shouted at the woman, grabbing her by her shoulder to still her. “I… don’t know, but this has gone on long enough. Mac, catch up to him please and figure out what is going on? I am drawing such a blank.” Mac closed his mouth with a click, nodded to the two women before taking off after John at a run.

 

It took 20 minutes to get everyone into town, and by then Nora had a massive tension headache growing. _Why?_ Why was John so angry at her? What had she said? He couldn’t be jealous, truly. Maybe jealous that her friendly affections were turned elsewhere, but she knew he wasn’t actually interested. She sighed and handed her clipboard back to Codsworth.

 

“Cods-honey, I’m going to the bar. Do me a favor and tell the others I went somewhere else. I really need a stiff drink right now.”

 

“Forgive me for saying so, mum, but I dare say you do. I haven’t seen you with a headache in such a long time. Do take it easy, and please, call for an escort once you are feeling better.” Codsworth extended his claw to cuff her under the chin. She smiled as best she could, kissing her palm and placing it on his casing as she walked off.

 

The bar was easy enough to find since it was also the town’s restaurant. The Caps’ radio station was playing behind the bar, which was actually a bar! Two stools, one taken up by Mac were next to the bar with three two-person tables scattered around the room. All the tables were taken up at the moment, and the sounds of silverware over plates echoed. In the far back left corner was a three-seater couch of dirty red, where Hancock was currently… in between two lovely women. All three looked stoned out of their minds with John having an arm around each of the ladies’ hips, his head back over the rest. The two women were reclined on him in different ways, but the three looked comfortable.

 

And Nora was instantly jealous, before sighing and breathing out the feeling. She had no right to feel jealous of the women; John was making it even more clear how disinterested he was. Nora couldn’t remember the last time the almost equally-touchy-feely man had cuddled with her on a couch.

 

Nora pulled out the stool next to Mac, calling for a couple shots of his strong shit before thunking her head to the bar. “How many has he gone through?” Nora indirectly asked Mac.

 

“Least three inhalers, couple of tats I think. The girls came in about two minutes again. Already gone out of their minds; think he offered them some of the chems you made.” Mac moaned around his beer bottle, reaching over and rubbing Nora’s arm.

 

Nora sighed again as her drinks arrived and cheered against Mac’s bottle before downing the two right after each other. She set her head down again, rubbing her temples. “Shit, I just want to understand the problem.”

 

“Well, the first part I think is wrong is that he _does_ find you attractive, Boss. Please believe me on that,” Nora turned to Mac and narrowed her eyes. The longer she stared, the more uncomfortable, and redder, the sniper got.  “He’s just really sure you don’t find him attractive.”

Nora scoffs, hard, and orders one more shot and downs it just as fast. “Why, cause he’s a ghoul?” Nora snapped her teeth together. The very idea that she would judge any of her friends by their ‘species’ was disgusting. Hello, kinda have it really hot for a broken-down Gen-2 synth. “He can out charm _me_ and I had pre-bomb world to practice in.” Nora watches as Mac’s eyes scan her and around the room. “What are you thinking, Boooo-by?”

 

Mac shuddered at the name before answering. “I’m thinking someone needs to explain something about ghouls to you, Boss. And if the Mayor’s not going to do it, then-”

 

“Well, for fuck’s sake, this town really is going to the rad-freaks,” came a rather arrogant voice from the bar’s entrance, and both of them turned to focus on the new people. Three men, well-built, but poor cloths and unkempt. Looked like the one on the right was the only one with a weapon, a long board. The three men were obviously staring at the corner where Hancock was, and any relief Nora might have started to feel from the alcohol was gone as her instinct to protect her friends shot up.

 

“Easy, Boss. Let’s keep this civil if we can,” Mac warned low, trying to rub the tension out of her arm. Yeah, not going to work as all three men moved toward Hancock, several of the patrons getting up to leave. Nora didn’t need to worry; Hancock could easily take them even if he was as stoned as he looked. It was the principle of the matter of some idiots fucking with someone only because they were different.

 

“Evening, gents,” Hancock waved at them, not taking his head off the rest. “Got some killer Jet here. 60 Caps for the regular, 80 for the Fuel. Guaranteed to please or your caps back.” The girl on his left giggled, before throwing her leg over his knee and snuggling into his neck.

 

“Like we’d take shit from one of you rad-fuckers. Ain’t you supposed to be out in the fields, swimming in mud like them other two?” said the pockmarked leader. Nora noticed a set of brass knuckles in his back pocket.

 

“Suit yourself, my man. Nah, just blew into town. Lookin’ to trade, and maybe get a tour of the town from these lovely ladies.” Hancock’s head finally came forward and he rested his cheek against the top of the one leaning into him. Nora’s jealous splashed over her for a second again. No, she didn’t have the right.

 

“You’re a sick freak that should be put down. There’s no need for ghouls. They’re accident, and just ferals waiting to happen.” The one with the board now, his hands squeezing the handle enough to make it creak. Nora was up now; there was too much tension in that one’s body. This was going to turn into a brawl.

 

“Oh, I’m no accident. My momma didn’t like how my big brother turned out, so she had little ol’ me. And man, if I could recreate the high I had when I took that Rad-chem, whole Waste would be havin’ a good time by now.” Hancock smirked and laughed low, pulling himself up slow to look at the men. All an act; he was gently maneuvering the girls off of him while leaning forward, ready to strike when they did.

 

“You shitty rad-fre-”

 

“Gentlemen,” Nora cooed as she stood behind them, getting the leader and other un-armed man’s full attention. The one with the board stayed on Hancock. “I think we have established your feelings on ghouls already. Your feelings, however, seem to be in the minority. How about you let the man get back to his chems, and you three go find a molerat or scorpion to play with.”

 

“What, another ghoul fucker? Can’t get wet for a real man, honey?” snarled the leader as he looked Nora up and down like meat.

 

Feeling pissed, brave, and jealous, Nora glanced around him to make sure Hancock was paying attention. “Wouldn’t mind being one.”

 

And cue the brawl.

 

Hancock took the one with the board, making sure to move himself away from the women. Nora ducked under the hooks of the leader, just as Mac, assumingly, cruck his beer bottle into the last one’s face. Nora focused on her man, knowing her boys would be fine in a one on one fight. She dropped into a low leg sweep, catching the idiot in the ankle. Muscle-bound fool obviously skipped leg day as he collapsed to his back. Their space was limited, but that didn’t stop him from trying to grab a fistful of her hair. Seriously, what was with going for the hair, Nora thought as she unsheathed Pickman’s blade and slammed it into the man’s left hand, pinning him to the wooden floor. Seeing another bottle nearby, she grabbed it and smashed it into his temple, knocking him out soundly. No show-boating for Nora; end a fight as quickly as you can means less injuries to patch up.

 

Nora checked to her right first, grinning to see Hancock barely even ruffled from the fight. The board was snapped in half along the man’s knee. Likely dislocated, but they weren’t really out to kill the idiots. Hancock looked at her, an unreadable expression for once.

 

Just as she opened her mouth to call for him, both he and Mac called to her. A hand suddenly was on her wrist, twisting and pinning the limb in between her shoulder blades, _feeling too familiar stop!! let me go_

_ “No. You agreed. I spare your little synth detective after I claim your body,” a voice over her shoulder. She refused to look behind her as the person twisted her wrist harder against her back. His other hand was sliding down her pussy, gentle in contrast to the burning pain of her arm. She tried to jerk free, feeling the chain tighten around her neck as the sound of the links echoed through Home Plate. _

__

_ The leather-gloved finger pushed into her, and dug down to her top walls, actively seeking her most pleasurable spots. More tears streamed down her cheeks; she didn’t want to enjoy this. Lips kissed down her spine, sucking at her hip as a second finger was added. She bit and screamed into her other arm, knowing the man behind her would kill her and Nicky if they were heard. _

__

_ “Pretty big weakness of yours to exploit,” Nora hissed and sobbed hard as she felt the man behind her position her hips up more, just as the head of the cock brushed her lips. “Letting yourself be raped just to save a synth,” The push in was slow, steady. Nora bit into her arm harder, tasting blood. She wished it was painful. “Pitiful woman,” the scratchy voice whispered in her ear as he settled himself completely inside of her. He kept kissing her neck as he pulled out, then in at a slow pac- _

“NORA!!” the shout broke through Nora’s memory. Panicked gasps and whimpers of pain were falling from her mouth as she took note that both Hancock and Mac were kneeling in front of her, John’s hands on her shoulders. Her back was to a wall and she was in a sitting position. No, they can’t know!! Can’t hear me scream, can’t hear me at all! Nora ignored the two men and scratched desperately at her PipBoy. She had to keep quiet (the clasp came undone), no one can hear (the device fell to the floor), have to protect Nicky. Rolling up the long, white cotton sleeve, her teeth sank deep into her forearm as her eyes slammed shut and she screamed into the bite.

 

“Fuck!!, Nora, No!!”          “Shit, Boss!”

 

Nora ignored the two, even as they both tried to wrestle her teeth from her arm. Her screams were muffed enough that no one outside of the room should hear her. John and Mac were yelling at her, yelling at each other. One of them was saying something about triggered and flashbacks.

 

Fingers moved into the joints of her jaw, digging in enough to make her release her arm, just to have three scared and pitted fingers jam into her mouth. Nora looked up at a stern looking John as he pushed her tongue down.

 

“Now, Princess. I’m sure you’re hurtin’ inside that beautiful brain of yours, but you need to listen. You don’t wanna hurt us, do you?” John’s other hand released the sides of her jaw and moved to his waist. She couldn’t see what he was doing. Mac was kneeling down with John, hands now frantically wrapping a bandage over her bleeding arm. Nora shook her head, finally noticing the stream of tears falling from her eyes and the gasping sobs that were trying to come out of her chest. “I need ya to keep your mouth open, just a bit longer, Nora,” Nora whined at her name and tried to move away from the man, shame building up more and more. John snarled a moment, hooking his fingers in her mouth to hold her. “Easy, Nora. I’m going to give you something to bite on. You can bite an’ chew an’ scream into it all you want. Just don’t bite down right now.” His other hand finally came back up, holding his ratty, American flag that he used for a ‘belt’. He wadded it up and held it to her face. “Keep your mouth open,” was all he said as he pulled his fingers out and, before she could let a screaming sob fly, shoved the fabric between her teeth. It tasted heavily of smoke and dirt, but Nora covered what didn’t get in with her hands and screamed hard into the fabric.

 

“Alright, Joe,” Hancock looked over at Mac, noticing the panic and confusion look still hadn’t left his face. Hancock checked over the wound care they had managed before thumping the younger man on the arm. “Pay for any damages, tell the others Princess and I are gonna be out for a while. If they ask, tell them she had a panic attack.”

 

Nora stiffened up more as the ghoul’s arms wrapped around her, lifting her in bridal style. She pressed her forehead into his neck, letting all of her panicked and desperate sounds be blocked by the flag as they exited the bar. She didn’t pay any attention to where John took them, only trying to get her demons back to the back of her mind. Hancock was humming as they walked, his cheek laying on her hair once in a while until he decided an old dead tree was the place to be. Somehow, he sat down while still holding her, crossing his legs under her hips before wrapping both arms around her waist.

 

There they stayed. Nora had no idea how long. She tried to get what had happened in the bar separate from what had happened… before. She never told the others; had never _planned_ to tell the others. Only Nick knew… because he had to watch. Nora jerked and tried to arch out of Hancock’s arms. The man just kept humming, nuzzling her forehead with his cheek, comforting her.

 

“Not goin’ to ask questions Princess. You’ll talk when you’re ready,” John spoke softly as they sat. Over time, the demons started getting back in their boxes. John, always so perceptive, noticed and pulled out her PipBoy from his coat. He set it in her lap and clicked through to the radio. Hancock had to adjust her twice, over his knees once and then onto the ground next to him. Always kept an arm around her.

 

“How you feelin’, Nora? Manageable?” The ghoul asked softly, running his hand up and down her upper arm. She nodded and reach up to take the flag out of her mouth. “Ah,” John helped take the now soaking material from her teeth, leaving her to ‘blah’ feeling back into her mouth and rub her aching jaw. He worked the middle into a thick knot before tying it around her neck, the knot under her chin. “There. Just in case you need to bite it again.” He helped her stand next, gently maneuvering her face to check her. “Damn, left a couple of marks on your right side,” he brushed his knuckles along the joint of her jaw. “We’ll get those taken care of.”

 

Then the two looked at each other, and Nora had to now accept that John likely had a very good idea of what had upset her. A range of expressions passed over his face, likely in relation to the ones that crossed hers. His hand came up, pushing some hair back behind her ears. “You’re still Princess,” was all he said as he pulled her in for one more hug. Nora sighed and squeezed her friend tight before releasing him… just in time for Danse to come over the com.

 

“Paladin Black, this is Paladin Danse. We have received word from the people of Canterbury that a small group of Raiders is trying to establish themselves in a nearby Robot repair shop. They request we take care of them. They have offered housing and discounts as payment… as well as looking the other way in regards to a bar brawl that happened today,” Nora looked up at John, trying to grin while he winked at her. “I am en route. Please meet me outside in 15. Danse out.”

 

Nora sighed and offered the PipBoy to John as she unwrapped her bite mark. It was fairly well healed from the ointment they always kept in their packs. She showed it to Hancock, waiting for his nod before wrapping it back up. She snapped the PipBoy back into its proper place, ignoring the minor pain it caused.

 

“Well, I know _I_ am in the mood to kill some assholes,” Nora offered, checking her side for her 10mm. Hancock pulled her level action rifle from the tree, along with his shotgun. “After that, I need a bottle of Turkey for myself.”

 

“Saw one at the bar; glad neither Joe or I smashed it.” John added as he followed her, loading up his gun and checking his pistols as they walked. They were quiet as they went, Nora’s mind continuing to swim. As they got within sight of Danse, she turned and held the black pools of John’s eyes. “Are we good now, John?”

 

John grinned, before leaning in to kiss her cheek. Nora’s whole body relaxed into the ghoul as he did so. “Got my answer, Princess. Sorry it took so long.” Nora thumped him in the shoulder once before turning back around, walking to Danse with a touch more giddy-up.

 

“What we got Danse?” questioned Nora as the power suit wearing man turned at their arrival. Looking past him, the building looked in a discount store. Robot parts were strewed about, but only one body outside. New raiders then?

 

“I have only seen one person come out so far,” he nodded over to the corpse, before looking back at her and barely stopping himself from staring at her current scarf. “She attacked on sight and was already coated in blood.” Danse lamented.

 

“So, not too likely to be wanting to talk, but we’ll still give it a try. Weapons on hand?” Nora asked as she showed off what she was carrying. Her bullet belt was completely stocked, but she had no throwables with her.

 

“Laser pistol with 24 clip, plenty of ammo, ma’am,” Nora’s lip quivered as she tried not to snicker. “The three of us should be more than enough for a small group of them.”

 

Nora nodded and pulled the safety off everything. “Same as usual, gentleman. Danse my right, Hancock my left. We’ll give them two shouts to surrender and shoot the leftovers.” The men agreed, Hancock smirking slightly, as they started their way in.

 

There was destroyed tech all over; terminals, robots, turrets. Danse’s suit echoed loudly, meaning that the crew didn’t have long before they were attacked. Still, they didn’t hear anything. Well, Nora might have heard some far of insane giggling, but even her ears weren’t sure. She cleared her throat, both men ready to blast all incomers. “This is General Black of the Common Wealth Minutemen. All raiding activity needs to stop now,” one of the raiders came out from the right. He didn’t even get a chance to touch the trigger of his small arm before Danse blasted him. “This is your first warning. All people who attack us or attempt to attack the people of Canterbury,” another from the left, downed by Hancock’s shotgun, “will be shot on sight. Surround by approaching us with your hands on your head.” Half a dozen cries of ‘Fuck you!’  “Well, that was expected,” Nora sighed and took off for the main work area.

 

It was shaping up to be a quick and easy sweep. Including the one outside, they had taken out two apiece by the time they entered the open room. Nora had the damn PipBoy song going through her head, and humming it, as her screen showed little red dots running around the outside of the room. She counted at least 8 other dots, though one was stationary in the room with them. “Got a turret in here along that wall,” she said to the tune, hearing Hancock snicker.

 

“Good thing songs don’t get stuck in your head often, Princess. We’d never sneak up on anyone.” Nora smirked, casually flipping him off as she slammed a pipe through the handle of a door that lead to a different section.

 

_Pfft_

Nora cried out as something jabbed her in the neck. Danse’s pistol sounded soon after as Nora reached up and felt the area, finding a needle stuck in her neck. Yanking the thing out, she turned to the men to ask what it was, only to stop dead as her heart gave a frantic thud.

 

Which was followed by a herd of horses running through her chest. She collapsed to her knees, hands clutching at the thundering organ as it tried to escape her chest. Torrents of blood raced on the insides of her ears, drowning out even her own screams almost. Her hands and feet felt like they were pulsing with her heart and sweat started to pour from her every pore. Her visions started to swim as what felt like a million needles pierced them from behind. The feeling of the needles quickly spread everywhere. With another scream, Nora slammed her head into the floor below, trying to stop the needles. With a whoosh in her ears, the needles went to her heart and stayed there, letting Nora look up.

 

The holoscreen of her PipBoy must be malfunctioning. She saw two men in her immediate view, but rather than being little yellow or red dots at the bottom of her screen, they were colored completely yellow. She couldn’t recognize their faces, but had to be one of Danse’s men and new ghoul friend. She panted as her body’s temperature continued to climb, giving her a _pounding_ headache to go along with her heart. She snarled briefly at the two yellow men, but quickly ignored them; reds were approaching.

 

She leapt up and shoved past them as three of the raiders started to enter on the far side of the room. The first one had a regular bat and had turned his foot towards the ghoul. No one fucked with her settlers! He was far too slow to stop her as she yanked the bat from his hand, flipped it to grab the handle and slamming the bat into its previous owner’s temple. He dropped and Nora then chucked it straight into the face of the red woman behind him. The third raider she took down to the floor with her, straddling his upper chest. She clamped her thumbs into the inner corners of his eyes, reaching into the socket, curling around the back of the organs, and yanked them out. She ignored the different screams of mercy and pain around her, though it was rattling her brain.

 

“It’s… chem react…” came the voice from her ghoul settler. Needed to learn his name; she made it a point to know her people. Heck, he might be one of John’s… where did John get to?

 

Tossing the eyes away, Nora grabbed on to the face of the hollering, blinded man. Lifting up his head, she then bashed it back into the floor. Repeatedly. He was dead by the third slam, but she gave him two more just because she was _fucking pissed_! She looked to the other raiders. The woman who got a face full of bat was trying to get up in her slow-motion way. Nora gave one ‘gotta be kiddin’ me’ snicker/snort as she jumped up before the woman, grabbing the bat. _Heeerrre’s the wind up, and the pitch_ and the bat crashed into the back of the woman’s skull. Nora caught the top half of the bat as it broke away from the handle, watching the woman collapse back down to the ground. The first man looked dead, but Nora slammed the broken end of the top half into his chest anyway. Waste not, want not with Wasteland weapons.

 

“No…toler…what…” Nora looked at the two men behind her, grinning as charming as she could around her headache and racing heart. Still not understanding why she was sick, she ignored the yellow men in favor of the last three reds coming around the far hall corner.

 

Whizzing little bullets passed around her; Nora could almost see them if she wanted to concentrate. Didn’t feel like doing so though, as she sent the bottom half of the broken bat sailing, right into the eye socket of another woman. Nora’s knee buckled as something small slammed in and then out of it, but Nora still kept herself up. The man came running at her with a pool cue, making Nora snort again. Fucking pansies, didn’t they know pool cue screwed together? Her arm came up and took the blow. It broke her left arm at the elbow, her PipBoy thumping her thigh. Her right arm came up too fast for the man, snapping the cue at its connection. She flicked her half around and whipped it into the man’s neck. She hissed as another hole opened up in her left shoulder, but she got the cue to stab through the downed man’s back, straight where his heart should be. The last woman charged at her, too slow, and Nora caught her by the throat. She was a tiny, weak little thing. Nora carried her over to a wall before letting go of her neck and grabbing her face instead. She then proceeded to smash the woman’s head into the wall… until there was too much blood and meat to hold on to it.

 

Flicking the removes off her hand, she scanned the room, finding that red turret she saw earlier, way up there. Nora ran for the stairs, confused and cursing at her limping leg. What the fuck happened to her knee? Shouts, from the two very whiny yellows, called out, but she made it to the top of the scaffolding. The turret was pointed the wrong fucking way, she smirked and curled her right hand. She launched forward as best she could, slamming _through_ the casing of the machine, opening her hand and clamping down on some of the wires inside. One yank rendered the machine useless and her hand broken and bleeding badly.

 

The vibration of heavy steps is what caused her to turn around and face the Brotherhood member. Still couldn’t make out his face, but he was pure yellow. It made her growl; she wanted to fight more. “Whatcha want there, soldier? Comin’ to help the Gen’ral?” Nora didn’t hide her old tri-state accent; bit too keyed up for that shit.

 

“Her eyes are completely blown and there is no white left,” said the soldier, calling down to the ghoul. Nora’s mind puzzled for a moment, where had she seen those clothes before? Do ghouls steal from museums? Said ghoul had a syringe in hand and brought the needle tip to his tongue. Nora blanched in disgust; fuck, was it feral?

 

“Fuck! Get her down here, Danse; she’s shot up with Psycho, Buff, _and_ Jet!” The ghoul hollered, tossing the syringe to a metal panel. It gave a high ‘ting’ as it connected.

 

The ting sets Nora’s ear a flame again, causing her to drop to her knees, shrieking. The fact that her knee hurt for some fucking reason didn’t help matters. The needles exploded out of her heart, racing through every millimeter of her skin. The pain from her knee, arm and hand increased to the point Nora noticed how broken and battered she was. Her scream only made her ears ring more, making more pain. It just kept looping, until the soldier, now out of his suit, pushed her to her back and pulled her scarf up from her neck. The knot was shoved into her teeth, and her screams were muffled. She tried lashing out with her right hand, scratching two long welts into the soldier’s cheek. “Oot oochh eee” she screamed at him.

 

“I have to, Nora.” The man then had the gall to hold her wrists together in front of her chest. She lashed out with her good leg, catching the bastard on the chest and shoulder, but he was too solid. New vibrations sounded as the ghoul crested the scaffolding, rope and a pair of handcuffs in hand. She screamed in rage as well as pain as the two worked her arms through the ghoul’s ghastly red coat, using it as a straitjacket with the rope to keep her hands behind her back. You’d think with a broken arm Nora wouldn’t be much of a threat. Then again, she had whipped the limp appendage into the ghoul’s face, arching off the floor in pain as she did. The handcuffs went around her ankles, two needles stabbed into her sides, and she was lifted into the ghoul’s arms. They were arguing, but the only piece Nora caught between her screams was, ‘faster than a tin can on a bad day’. The ghoul sets off in a run.

 

 

 

For the first time while sober, John had the urge to rip into someone with his bare hands. Maybe even his fucking teeth as he ran full speed with Nora in his arms. She was a mess and he doubted she was aware of half the damage she took. One bullet to her knee had sent bone pieces flying, while the two, fucking _two_ , to her left shoulder left her bleeding still even after the two stimpacks he had on hand. Her left arm was snapped clean and, if he could bruise, the whole left side of his face would be purple in no time. Her right hand was sheared, at least three knuckles broken with all the fingers cut in some way. Her middle finger was skinned to the bone and her wrist had been opened just a hair away from the vein. He held the thrashing woman tighter as she slipped into her first seizure while cursing a blue storm. Danse’s voice sounded over his mini-com and the Pipboy, calling a code red and to have everyone ready with a shit ton of meds at their safe house for the night.

 

Gasps and screams sounded as he ran through the small town, heading for what Danse had called ‘old electronics’, turning and slamming his back into the door to get them in. Preston and Deacon jumped up from a mattress on the floor, while Cait screamed a ‘No!’ as Hancock put Nora on the bed. The ghoul paid no attention to where Dogmeat, Mac, or Cods were as he got to work. He snarled hard when Preston tried to get close, telling the kid to fuck off and let him work. Definitely wasn’t the first time he had to treat Princess for a chem, but it certainly was the worst.

 

A flick of his knife got the rope off and he sent it and his coat flying. His sleeves went up past his elbows and he flicked his hat over to his coat. He looked around and found what supplies everyone had been able to grab with the alert. 3 stims, shit tons of good water, a jar of ointment and several feet of bandages. He checked to make sure the flag was still keeping her from biting her tongue off before calling for someone else to hold her legs. Straddling her ribs, he took her broken arm, lined it up right and called for a stick, board, fuck anything. A metal claw handed him two pieces from a broom handle and he stabilized her arm, just in time for her to semi-come back to it and start trying to fight.

 

“FUCKIN’ HOLD HER!” John called as he crossed his forearms and tried to pin her chest down. At least two of the others were _sitting_ on her good leg, Cait had her by the head while sobbing into those brown locks. Voices from the door and suddenly there were more hands, and Danse’s powerarmor stood at the head of the mattress.

 

“What happened?!” pleaded Preston from behind him as Nora slipped into another seizure.

 

“Not now,” John snapped as he looked back at the blood soaked blue jeans and forth to the even more blood soaked tops. He decided to go for her shoulder first, unzipping the leather vest she wore and unbuttoning the shirt enough to get her shoulder free. The two bullets had smacked into each other as much as her; he could still see them.

 

“Damn it, John, what the hell-”

 

“NOT FUCKING NOW, BOY SCOUT!” John’s voice dipped into truly menacing as he looked for their normal tool kit. Cods saw him and quickly pushed the bag into his hand. Reaching in, Hancock got a pair of debris removing clamps. Said clamps were held up high for the bot to torch slightly before the ghoul pushed them into the wound. Flesh burned slightly, Nora screamed louder, but Hancock got the mashed bullets out with minimum fuss. A quick flick sent them into a wall. “Stim her arm. One of them, she’s already had two!” Hancock pushed off her waist and turned to the knee. There was a shit show; He got two fingers in on either side of the hole and ripped it wider. It was a through and through, but the wound itself had to stay open while the stim replaced and mended the bone. He grabbed a spool of twine, a small hook needle that he dunked in a new bottle of vodka, and started stitching her leg _open_.

 

Finally getting her taken care of as best he could, Hancock climbed off the bed and slammed his fist repeatedly into a half broken piece of dry wall. “Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!” He snarled as he rested his forehead to the wall now, pawing his pants for his smokes. The rest of the room was quiet except for Princess’ pained whines and whimpers.

 

“… How bad is it, John?” asked a very scared sounding Joe. The ghoul’s forearm came up to rest above his head as he tried to calm his own raging pulse. It took the mayor several deep breaths up his nose cavity before he could turn to the others. Cait started crying worse looking at him, and Dogmeat howled. The rest waited as he lite his smoke and took the longest drag of his life.

 

Blowing out the cloud, he answered. “We’ll be lucky if her heart doesn’t stop.” The others flinched and covered their leader’s thrashing body as a new wave hit her. “She takes a tiny puff of Jet, she slows down for a good minute more than others and she collapses, too. She’s taken a tat before and was loopy for a good three hours. A standard dose of Med-X knocked her out for three days.” Another drag of the cig, trying to stop the shakes that were starting. “That fuckin’ needle was 40 mls of Psycho, Buff, and Jet,” John snarled and threw the budded stick away, lighting up another. “The Jet made it so she could take down 6 raiders by herself in the span of 2 minutes. Buff let her smash their fuckin’ skulls in with her bare hands. Psycho kept her goin’ through the pain.” John stared down at his pale Princess. The woman he owed a hard confession to, who looked ready to die. “Her heart’s going too fast. It’s gonna quit on her.” He paced around the side of the mattress, ignoring the new sobs that fell from Joe and the sniffles coming out of Preston. “We can’t stim her anymore tonight, which leaves her wounds open to infection. Can’t Med-X her to fight the pain as the chems run their course. If,” John gritted his teeth against the word and snarled low in his chest as he tried to control himself. “If she makes it through till morning, we might be able to dose her.”

 

“I can’t!” Cait cried as she ran out the door. Danse got up as well, moving to the door frame and resting his forehead against it. The others kept to the mattress; Dogmeat even resting his body over her torso as he gave depressed whimpers.

 

Hancock rubbed and scratched along the pits of his scalp, turning to Cods. “You’ve got a heart rate monitor in ya, right Cods?”

 

“I-I do, sir,” even the bot’s voice broke as he hovered to and fro by the mattress.

 

“I’m stayin’ here,” John growled as he crouched down and took hold of her right pinkie; it was the one finger even partway mended. “I’m the only one who’s dealt with O.Ds. She’ll be having fits all through the night… We’ll need at least three people around her at all times until morning, me included. Take shifts, but if you ain’t on, get around town. Get everything: water, all the stimpacks, couple doses of med-X, decent food.” John didn’t look up to see who was listening, just continuing to brush his mangled skin to hers. “Look for some addictol, fuck, send some of her boys out somewhere to get it.” The ghoul blew out one long breath and looked up to see the rest of Princess’ hurting but determine crew. “This shit is going to be rough.”

 

And just to prove his fuckin’ point, Nora gave a harsh, stuttering gasp and stopped breathing.

 

John moved, pulling his knife to his right hand at the same time as he placed his fingers to her pulse, straddled her waist again, and shouted for everyone else to get off. It took him a solid two seconds to confirm that her heart had given up, before he set his blade in the V of her shirt. Slashing down, he opened her up to just her bra before cupping his hands over the dying organ and pushing. Keeping count in his head, he snarled as he compressed, before tipping her head back and breathing into her lungs. Just as he started on his second set, she gasped again and arched, crying blindly from pain and fear. The ghoul leaned up and press his forehead to hers, growling at her as he spoke. “You fight this shit, Princess. You fight this like you fight fuckin’ everything else! I owe you a talkin’ to. You. Will. _Fight!!_ ” He kissed her hard on the forehead, squeezing his own eyes shut as he took a breath, his throat catching as he felt like crying. It takes Ghouls forever to get ‘liquids’- tears, blood, hell sweat- to move around their bodies. John could end up crying for ages without actual tears showing up. Sighing, and swallowing hard, he kissed his Princess once more before standing off of her.

 

Deac and Joe were the first on shift with him. John tossed off his normal long sleeves and pulled on a wife-beater. Then the three of them moved leftover furniture and bits away from Nora, while setting a couch right ways up. Dogmeat curled in on his mom’s side while the men worked. Danse and Preston went to give word to Princess’ boys while Cods went out to fetch Cait and send them both off for supplies. John arranged everything in better order while the other two mopped up the blood with soap and water before splaying the wounds with the ghoul’s own small store of moonshine.

 

He sat by her head, keeping track of her pulse with the help of her Pipboy’s clock, checking on her eyes once the veins popped and blood leaked from the corners. Her seizures were shorter and stopped after the first hour, but that lead to a second stopping of her heart. This time John did break down after 3 sets of compression, ignoring the other crying men as he rested his scarred cheek to hers. “Don’t do this shit, Princess,” John cradled the back of her head as he spoke. He nuzzled into her as he tried to control his choking throat, pulling her mane from the tie to help her rest on the pillow. All he got as a new whine of pain as the cramps overtook her muscles.

 

So it went throughout the evening and into the night. John never strayed far from the mattress as Danse and Preston took their turn around midnight, taking positions on the couch. Deacon and Joe left to stake out a proper housing situation. Turns out they could move into a broken down apartment complex a block away, so the troops were there for the night with them. Cait and Cods returned around 8:30, though Cait couldn’t stay long. She muttered something like ‘what I’d be like if I wasn’t clean’ as she dropped off 5 new stimpacks, 2 more med-X and a handful of bandages and rad-x, ‘to be absolutely sure’ said Cods. No addictol, but enough ingredients that Hancock could cook a dose up. Wouldn’t help with the pain as the drug worked through, but it would make sure she didn’t have any cravings. Cods sagged into a far corner and turned himself into standby mode around 11:30.

 

She was drifting in and out, never completely aware of where she was or who was around her. She could answer questions, who she was and her different titles, but she didn’t know why she was hurting. She fell unconscious just as the cramps would start up, and they had to keep a bucket handy for her.

 

Through it all, John smoked two full packs and barely noticed when someone moved around their area. Fuck, it took Joe pulling Hancock’s coat over Princess to notice that she was in effect topless. He’d have to remember the action for a joke later: ‘If that’s the only way I get to see your tits, Princess, no thanks.’ He scratched his eyebrow bone with his thumb as he let out a soft defeated sigh, watching her body cramp up again.

 

Dawn was coming soon, according to the clock. Princess was still ungodly pale, even after evacuating and purging throughout the night. Her breathing was shallow but in a decent pattern. Her heart had fluttered twice more, but hadn’t stopped again. The latest series of cramps was letting up John noticed as he ran his forefinger up and down her bicep. He smirked around his latest cigarette, “That’s my girl. Keep it up, Princess; you’re winning.” A few more moments and the spasms stilled, letting her gasp a deep breath and settle into a small period of actual sleep.

 

“Hancock?” John turned to the wiry voice of a freshly awake Preston, watching the Minuteman roll his neck loose. John half waved his hand at the dark-skinned man as his pitted fingers reached down for her neck’s pulse point. He held for a full minute, feeling for any skips along the weak beats. It kept its slow pace, no breaks. He looked back over at the Minuteman and nodded, hearing a deep sigh of relief. Hancock flopped back alongside her, reaching over to pat her good leg.

 

“You’ve gone through your whole store of smokes there, Mayor,” Preston tried to be a smart-ass, though it had come out extremely weak. John gave him a toothy grin anyway and flicked the last of his cigarette into the ashtray.

 

“She’s worth the cancer, Boy Scout.”

 

“That she is,” the younger man added as he started to stand up working the kinks out before tapping on Tin Man. Danse woke up in a shock, partly because the man hardly ever slept. He looked to Preston and quickly down to Nora. John half scoffed and waved off the obvious question that was coming. “Her heart’s keepin’ pace. No off beats for the last 3 hours. Not gonna call her outta the woods yet, but she’s on the trail.” Hancock threw his arm over his eyes just as the sun started rising. “Someone see about an empty Radaway bag, fill it with water, and I’ll get a drip goin’ on her. And get my hat; fuckin’ sun’s too damn bright.”

 

“That is with you being sober. Strange.” Danse commented and Hancock smirked a little as his hat was tossed onto his face. A memory of he and Princess wasted in Sanctuary, about two days after she brought the Tin Man for a visit. ‘Damn, sonofabitch’s got a voice that just takes the panties right off someone, huh?’ Nora had snorted her whiskey hard up her nose before dissolving into her wheezing giggles for a good 5 minutes.

 

God, he just wanted to hear her laugh again.

 

Preston called Codsworth out of his snooze and the two soldiers ordered the bot to wake Hancock up if her pulse slipped again. Yeah, right, fuckers. He wasn’t sleeping till Princess was up. He’d go through a nuked out valley to keep his energy up before he slept. A certain fuzzy mutt woke up from his corner of the room and flopped himself down on John’s chest, giving him a single whine.

 

“She’s fightin’ hard, mutt. You know how your mom does,” he said as he roughed up the fur on the dog’s neck. A muffled bark, which Hancock was going to take as the mutt agreeing with him, sounded before he got a wet lick up his neck. “Don’t be thankin’ me yet,” Hancock gave another weary sigh and relaxed, his other hand resting on Nora’s calf. Just to keep up with the different waves she went through

 

Course now that it was quiet, and Nora was showing signs of recovering, Hancock’s mind went back to the bar. A teeth-clenching growl came out of him, his hands flying off Nora and the pup to dig into the mattress. _Who the FUCK had gotten to Nora?!_ Every bit of his need to fight came back in a blink as Hancock pushed the dog off of him and started pacing. He’d seen that scene a hundred times over while a drifter. Lapses when confronted with something similar to their attacks. Nora had _froze_ , completely, when that bastard had pinned her arm back. How many times had he seen her get out of that before? No freezing, not even for a moment. This time, though, he’d seen her pupils go wide and her lip start to shake. Hancock had reacted by snapping the asshole’s own wrist and smashing his boot into the dick’s face. Joe had gotten over to her other side just as she had started to cry. John had picked her up over his shoulder and set her down in the far corner. And when she had fucking bit herself, just to scream into her arm… Hancock yelled as his fist slammed once again into the broken bits of drywall around.

 

A scared whine from Nora was like a bucket of ice water on his temper. He rushed back to her side and cupped the inside of her repaired right hand. “Shush, Princess. Back to sleep,” His other hand reached out to push some of her hair away from her sweat soaked face. Those creamy, brown eyes tried to look for him, though her pupils were still at least double their normal size.

 

She tried squeezing his hand, but it was pitiful grip compared to normal. Her mouth gaped open and closed and her tongue look dried out. John reached to the far side of the mattress and popped the top off of a can of pure water. With one arm, he pulled Nora up to a position that would allow the water to be poured in. Even dazed and confused, she drank it down fast. Too fast, as John pulled it back after a few sips, let her breathe, and then continued.

 

She passed out again when the can was half gone, and he set her back down, just in time for the others to all arrive. Danse and Boy Scout brought food while Cait, Deac and Joe hovered around the bedside. A water filled Rad-bag was handed to him and pulling a line from their first aid bag, Hancock stuck her vein. They ended up using Tin Man’s suit to hold up the bag.

 

Hancock quickly laid out the plan: Nora was doing better. She’d have to go through a few days of detoxing as the chems made their way out of her system. During that time, Hancock would not be moving, but the others needed to follow through on Princess’ orders and clear the roads around here and back up to their vault. This was followed by a lot of bullshit protesting, and only Nora giving another scared whimper did they stop and agree. Before noon, the others had made a hard sweep of the town for all last minute trades for meds and food, leaving them with Hancock, Cods and Dogmeat.

 

At the 24 hour mark, color was starting to come back to Nora’s chest, leeching its way towards her neck. Her right hand was completely closed up, but Hancock can still feel the bones mending together when he brushes his fingers along the knuckles. Left shoulder is already mostly closed with no signs of infection yet. He doesn’t try to mess with the rest of her arm, letting it set up and fix itself.

 

Checking on her knee, he can see the bone is reshaping nicely and decides to snip out the stitches and give the area a nearly direct shot of stim. He wraps about 5 feet of bandage around the area to be safe. Around midnight a fresh wave of shakes started, and Hancock lay down by her side, resting his arm at her waist.

 

Only to be filled with rage as she started talking in her sleep.

 

“Nicky… not… Nicky! Me…se me” Hancock snarled low as he pulled himself closer to the distressed woman.

 

“Princess, you’re safe, Nick’s safe. Everything is alright.” He tucked her head under his chin, and started humming a tune. She went quiet for a few minutes, but the talking continued throughout the night.

 

Not Nick, hurt her.

 

Don’t let Nick see.

 

Stop trying to make her feel good. Just hurt her like he wanted to.

 

Never a name, though, which is what Hancock desperately wanted. He wanted the name of the man he’d rip apart with his teeth.

 

 

 

 

She started to have her ‘I’m awake, really’ spells by noon on the third day. They were, as usual, funny as hell to watch.

 

“Hiiii, I’m General Bla-ck. Who you?” She asked as she tried to wiggle herself up into a sitting position. Hancock smirked at the wobbly woman as he spoon-fed her some soup.

 

“Open, Nora,” was all John said through the messy first meal. She was at least agreeable this time around, drinking her soup between her bouts of off key humming.

 

 

 

 

 

“Hey, you look like a fri-enddd of mine. He’s a sexy pirate king,” She bounced on her butt at the king, making the ghoul grin. “You been to GoodNeighbor?”

 

“Princess, I run GoodNeighbor,” Hancock snickered as he fixed her line, plugging it into a new bag of light salt water, and gave the bag to a floating Cods.

 

“Nah you don’t. My man John runs GoodNeighbor. Kicks so much ass,” Hancock reached over fast to catch her around the back as she tried tipping over. “He’s a great guy… but he’s mad at meeeee.”

 

Hancock wanted to kick himself for letting his temper get the better of him for the last few days. It wasn’t so much that she wouldn’t be interested in him. It was more of the thought of how her self-esteem was for her to think he wouldn’t be attracted. He pulled her to his chest, minding the nicely healing bone, rubbing the opposite arm gently.

 

“Princess, I’m not mad anymore. Just worried about ya. Go back to sleep.” He kissed her temple as she sighed herself back to sleep soon after.

 

 

 

 

 

Middle of the night on the third night had a new string of dreams, most, sadly, involving him.

 

“You were feral!!” She half shouted, half cried as she clung to him while they sat on the sofa. She was nearly completely in his lap at this point, sobbing into his shoulder. The fact that she worried about him soothe a bit of his ego, though he didn’t like that it did.

 

“Shush, Princess. I’m right here. Chaining-smokin’, Jet-puffin’ and town tourin’ as ever.”

 

The hiccups and whines between sobs stayed for a few more moments before a more anger whine escaped her lips and she pulled her head up to look at his face. Damn, she was looking a shit ton better. Left arm was moving well since that one was currently latched on to the strap of his wife-beater. He’d have to fix up the addictol so-

 

“Why don’t you want a tour with meee?” She cried harder and thunked her forehead to his, putting him in a daze. The fuck?

 

“Princess… you know what my tours are, right? A time of boot knockin’ and bed shakin’,” John responded, trying to understand what brought that on.

 

“I knowwww,” John felt her tears splash on his ruined cheeks. Both hands took hold of his bare shoulders and shook him as much as the weak woman could. “I’ve known forever. I want to be good enough for a tour. Fuck, you’re one of my best friends. I wish you wanted one with me.” Her head slide back down to his chest and her legs went off the couch.

 

“… Princess, I hope to god this is the first time you remember what the fuck you just said, cause I would love to hear it again when you’re sober.” He kissed the top of her head, squeezing his eyes shut in pain. Fuck, she just had to give him hope.

 

“I promise I will! Johnnn,” He loved his name in that tone. It was the tone she used when she begged for hugs or affection. He’d give her all of it in spades. She went out again after a few more sniffles and he set her back down on the bed. He needed a fucking walk. Whistling, kinda, to the mutt and putting Cods on post, he set off for some cooler air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything.

Fucking.

Hurt.

 

 That was the first thought in Nora’s mind as she started to wake up. Like she had run all over Boston within a day.

 

... _when you’re sober_

 

Nora tensed at the thought, trying to catch the rest of that fleeting voice. Some other part of her brain told her that it was important. A cold wetness traced along her hairline, making her jump and try to look up. She hissed as light pierced her vision.

 

“Now you know how I feel comin’ off a bender, Princess,” John’s amused gravel pulled her attention to the blur above her. A hatless Hancock came slowly into focus, a washcloth in his hand. Nora tried her best to smile through the soreness. A cheeky wink was her answer as the washcloth smoothed into her hair. “How sober are you this time?”

 

_… hear it again when you’re sober._

 

Grr, there was that thought again. Nora closed her eyes and sighed softly as Hancock continued whatever he was doing to her hair. “What did I take?” She still didn’t remember anything from the time she apparently took an orange Mentat. Both Hancock and Mac and been making snickering faces at her when she ‘woke up’ in the State House.

 

“You didn’t ‘take’ it so much as it was shot into you. About 40 mls of a cocktail even I don’t want to try. What do you remember last?” A gentle scent of fruit shampoo caught her nose, and she smiled at how kind Hancock was being.

 

_... remember what the fuck you just said_

 

Nora’s whole face curled on itself as she tried to catch that damn thought. It was starting to sound like Hancock had said it. “I’m… getting this… thought. It sounds like you telling me to remember something.” Nora noticed as Hancock’s hands stilled in her hair, but she raised her hand to pitch her nose, trying to remember.

 

Yes, it was John telling her to remember something, something John wanted to hear her say again. She remembered repeating his comment over and over between dreams. What had she said? What was-

 

She gasped, head shooting back, further into Hancock’s lap it seems, as the small conversation came back to mind. She chewed her lip as she stared up at those deep black eyes. John’s face was unreadable besides the flickering of his eyes as he watched her.

 

“I… I asked-”Nora went cross eyed as John touched a single finger to her lips, shushing her.

 

“Let’s talk about this after I get some food and water into ya, alright?” John smirked, though it was one of the few time the mirth didn’t reach his eyes. He then pushed her, slowly, into a sitting position, turning her until her back was against a neighboring couch. He then popped an orange inhaler into her hand. He grinned at what had to be obvious skepticism on her face. “Not to worry, Princess. That’s addictol, to make sure you don’t get any cravings for Pyscho or Buff.” He set the washcloth in a bucket and Nora noticed for the first time he was in a white tank top and jeans… which looked really good on him.

 

“I got hit with both?!” She shook her head and the inhaler before popping long puffs of it into her mouth. A quick check of her Pipboy between puffs told her it was over four whole days since they arrived in town, heading towards 5 in the afternoon. By the time she had taken the full inhaler she was starting to feel less sore, just in time for Hancock to return with some soup and some 200 plus year old chips.

 

“And Jet. It was bad Nora,” and cue the back shiver for the low, worried gravel of John’s voice. “Need you to try out your hands and arms, Princess. Try to feed yourself.”

 

Her left arm was definitely worse off as she reached for the bowl and spoon. The soup shook more than it should have, but she got them to work together to sip the broth. Just in time for her stomach to demand more and she tipped the whole thing quickly into her mouth. Right now, it was the best thing she ever had. Hancock cackled that ‘I am amused and happy’ laugh as he set the open bag of chips in her crossed legs.

 

“Good, they’re working.” At her questioning face, he sighed and leaned back on his arms. “You were shot up, Princess. One to the knee, _two_ to the shoulder. Had your left arm snapped and you punched a hole in a fuckin’ turret with the right. The reaction to the chems was the worst though… we lost you for a minute.” Nora took the information in, nodding slightly as she lifted a few of the chips to her mouth.

 

After a few moments of silence besides the chewing, she set the bag off to the side and smiled at the ghoul. “Thank you for saving me, John.” She smiled wider at John’s dismissive wave and lopsided grin, he almost looked a touch shy.

 

“Anytime, Princess, though I don’t _want_ to do a repeat performance. Even if I did get to see your top half.” He threw back his head with a laugh as Nora covered her chest while looking down. She was now in a dirty white T-shirt that looked to be Danse’s size and 3-quarter ruined jean shorts. She grabbed a chip from the bag and tossed it at him, snorting up her nose as he made a loud ‘Narr’ as he tried to catch it in his mouth.

 

The comment about her top brought her back to the conversation she made about wanting a tour with him. It held even truer now that she was sober.

 

“So John,” She reclined some, moving her less-sore right leg out to touch her foot to the outside of his thigh. “You want to see my top when I’m not trying to die?” While her words might be playful, she kept her face and tone dead serious. She was not leaving this conversation until they were both clear.

 

Hancock’s face turned serious too, as his fingers reached down and glided slowly and purposefully up her calf, making her shiver. “Princess, if there was any chance in hell I could, I’d worship your chest for a week straight.” The fingers worked her muscles from the back of her knee to her ankle.

 

“And this is not just your flirting nature coming out? Or our flirty natures coming out? Course I was serious when I asked for a tour,” Her breath caught as John rocketed up out of his relax position to slowly stalk up her body. Hands resting on the floor by her hips, his breath tickling her lips, he gave a feral grin that sent hard shivers down her back.

 

“My lil Nora,” his voice dropped into that delicious deep growl that made her thighs squeeze together. The move made the ghoul grin wider and his hand moved from the floor to the outside of her left thigh, squeezing the meat. “You sure you wanna fuck around with a man like me? Take my ghoulified ass alongside Boy Scout and Deac?”

 

Nora growled low as she stared at those midnight eyes, reaching up to run a lone finger from his scarred chin, down over his windpipe and Adam’s apple, circling one of the deeper pits over his collar bone before she dug the digit into the center of his chest. “John,” her hand snapped up to close around his throat as she pushed her lips to the bottom of his chin, grinning as the Mayor made a growl/groan, his hand squeezing her leg more. “When have I ever given two shits about you being a ghoul? You frustrating, charming, sweetheart of a man.” Her lips kept up their butterfly pressure up along his tense jaw, to the base of his fused ear. She could just get her teeth around the upper edge, and she moaned low as she nipped.

 

He moved fast; yanking her hand from his neck and pushing her further back into the couch with his weight while digging his other hand into her hair and pulling her off of his ear. She gasped for a second before giving him a ‘come on’ smirk. “I’m gonna ask you one last time, Nora. Are you sure you want me?”

 

“Johnathan M. Hancock, you are going to kiss me and kiss me now.”

 

Nora moaned as the man cupped his head and brought his ruined lips to hers. It was a hard, deep kiss that she quickly matched. Months of teasing, flirting and growing friendship had her moaning and him snarling. Mashing lips lead to quick nips before she sighed, opening her mouth to welcome him in.

 

Despite Nora more or less ignoring that different physical differences between radiated people and ‘smooth skins’ there was no ignoring it now. Nora gasped, her arms reaching out to wrap around the back of John’s neck as she felt the mostly dry pits of his tongue along hers. A low rumble echoed from his chest into her throat as his hand worked to massage her scalp while pinning her own tongue down and ravaging it. She wasn’t surprised how much he tasted of smoke, but was quickly lulled away from thoughts all together. They danced; twisting, wrapping, and for John, biting until Nora pushed him away to breath. Panting, letting her head fall back further into John’s massaging hand, she smiled as he rested their foreheads together, grinning at her.

 

“Fuck, I’ve wanted to do that for so long,” he moaned the last word, kissing all over her forehead while playing with her hair.

 

“Really? I honestly didn’t think-”

 

“Now hold up there, Princess,” he said as he pulled back some so they were eye to eye again. “I’ve been raking my brain for days now, tryin’ to figure out where you got the idea I wasn’t attracted to ya. Explain.” He commanded though he leaned in quickly to peck her nose. “Fuckin’ love this nose.”

 

Nora snorted softly as she pulled her arms off his neck, slowly down his covered chest and stomach before drawing little circles into his lower back. “It was the time you and I got stuck in a closet and I had to sit on your lap for 20 minutes.”

 

“Oh fuck, I remember. All I want to do was markup that long neck of yours,” he practically purred as he moved her head to the side and stared intensely at her skin. “Was thinking of starting from your ear and working my way down slow. Wanted to leave nice red circles in areas your suit doesn’t cover.”

 

Nora’s face turned into one of heavy confusion. “Wait a minute. You were _thinking_ about us necking,” a quick bark of a laugh interrupted her, “And yet, you never… well…” Nora popped up her index finger in his line of sight to make her point.

 

John went still for a second, before jerking back in shock, letting go of her head for it to plop on the cushion. His hands gripped said cushion on either side of her ears. “Are you tellin’ me, that you thought I didn’t like you cause I didn’t get stiff? Fuck, woman, I’m not a-”

 

“It’s an involuntary reaction! Set someone on your lap, the heat should have set you off! You would have to make a conscious effect not to-”

 

Now the ghoul bastard threw back his head and laughed hard in that raspy belly laugh that got her. Still, she wasn’t in the mood and crossed her arms over her chest, resisting the urge to twack him on the side of his head.

 

“Oh shit, that felt good. Alright now,” He leaned in to kiss her forehead, reaching back to continue playing with those long locks he loved. “Gonna explain a bit of Ghoul anatomy to ya. See, us ghouls got a few problems to balance out that long lives, no agin’, and other shit. Our fluids, especially blood, goes to vital systems only. If we wait for a boner, we are looking at 20-30 minutes, easily. We have to _make_ it go to our crouches to get hard or wet in a decent time. I, especially, can’t _pop_ a boner, Princess. I got to wrap my hand around it, good and tight-”

 

“Gah, John stop,” she covered her ears as her face started to flush.

 

Hancock grinned wickedly as he grabbed and pulled her right hand away, leaning in until his lips were right against her pink ear. “I’ve got to pull on it, run my fingers up and down the shaft, circling the head with my wet thumb- fuck, Princess, squirm for me.” He broke off his dirty talk to watch her thighs squeeze together and her legs try to curl up to protect her. “Don’t you try to fuckin’ pretend listenin’ to us doesn’t get you hot.” He deliberately rolled a growl through his throat, hearing the small moan that it earned from her chest. “I should give you another chance to get out of this but fuck it. It’s your fault for not takin’ biology in the old world.”

 

It happened so fast. John had his arms around Nora, lifted her enough to turn them both and dropped her on the bed, pushing her down with his weight as his mouth found that one spot Preston had gotten the other day. His teeth latched on and bit, his hands moving down to _finally_ latch on to that soft, round ass he’d been dying to have. Releasing his teeth, he sucked up that spot, rolling his hips between her legs as she gasped so sweetly and arched up for him. He rolled the thick round fresh, groaning between harsh sucks and bits as he enjoyed the feeling. Not to mention those round mounds currently squeezed against his own chest. Nora arched and squirms, almost trying to dislodge him. He did release his mouth, with a nice loud pop, and continued squeezing each cheek as he looked at her reddening face. He looked back down as a deep red, even slightly purple hickie was forming already.

 

“Fuck, Princess,” he rolled his right hand out to the side of her thigh, lifting it up so he could get himself groin to groin with her. He rocked himself into her shorts as he started kissing down the center of her. He growled as his chin hit that shirt. Pushing himself up for a second, he grabbed two fistfuls of the shirt and ripped it right down the middle.

 

Nora gasped at the rather obvious show of ghoul strength. “Don’t you dare do that to my bra.” He grinned and set his teeth into the upper fat of her left breast, rolling his hip bone right into her seam, sending a pulse up into her core. Her hand reached up to cup the back of his head as he nipped and sucked on the upper half of her breasts before he pulled the left cup down with his teeth. Once exposed, he stared for a moment, pulled down the other with a finger and continued staring. Just as Nora was starting to feel shy, even moving her hands up to cover herself, Hancock’s hands snapped around her wrists and pinned them down hard. “Best. Goddamn. Tits in the Wastes, Princess. Keep those hands right there.” His hands snuck around to her back, and wouldn’t you know it, he unsnapped the band with one hand. The two worked together to toss the freed bra and what was left of the shirt to the side. “Back down,” he nudged her hands as he tossed off his own tank top, and they rested, chest to chest. Nora hissed at the noticeable difference in temperature, feeling the ass smirk into her neck. She might have snapped at him if he didn’t start nipping and sucking up more bits of her flesh, gripping her hips up a touch higher so he could rock against her easier.

 

“Tell me something, Princess,” Nora’s back went stiff as she tried to arch away from John’s whispered rasp. He held on tight though, now rolling his hip bone into her seam, slowly, teasing. “You’ve gotta have some hot fantasies going in that beautiful brain of yours.” He growls so low as he bit the edge of her ear, tugging just a little as those gnarled hands of his started to glide and dig into her sides.

 

“Shit, John” Nora tried to squirm out of his reach. He knew, better than anyone else, what talking did to her. He bit her ear just a hair harder, and completely curled his arms around her back.

 

“Talk, Nora Jean. You think I don’t get off just as hard to your voice?” His fingers dug into her back questing and working over some of the tight muscles that came from near death experiences.

 

“Shit… well… since you like guys as much as girls,” Nora’s face bloomed as the mayor started cackling low into her neck.

 

“And that’s why you’re my kind of freak show, Princess. Who do you want ridin’ my ass while I bend you over a desk?” He started kissing lower taking time to pull up a new mark on the inner flesh of her right breast. Then he flattened his tongue, sounding extra lewd to make her shiver, and caught the pebbled nipple against the pits. Nora hissed and jumped against the new feelings. John’s tongue was also a lot drier than non-radiated people, but holy fuck, was it hot. She moaned low, arching up to offer more of her chest. John gladly took the offer, quickly sucking down the whole nipple. She hissed and tried jerking away as he pretended to bite the nub. “Talk, Nora. Who’s getting us both nice and slick and fuckin’ me from behind?”

 

Nora tried to throw her hands over her flushing face, getting stopped by Hancock’s own hands. “Johnnn,” Nora squirmed as he got right in her face, kissing her nose.

 

“Talk, or I’m takin’ this nose for myself.”

 

“YouandDanseismyfavorite!!” Nora blurted out, rolling onto her side underneath John, fighting her raging blush.

 

“I knew it. Looks like Princess likes rough rides.” Hancock manhandled her back onto her back, before running his hand down to slip under the jeans and underwear, twirling the thick curls between her legs. “Now I want you to close your eyes, and relax for me, Nora.”

 

Relax her ass; how was she supposed to relax with his fingers looping and tracing designs into her mounds? She tried though, closing her eyes, and sighing as she felt the rest of her clothes peel away. It didn’t last long as she epped when John took her foot, kissing the top of it and slowly worked his way up. He gave special attention to her previously busted knee; she was a bit surprised at just how gentle he could be. He winked when he caught her staring, “Down and eyes closed, Princess. Got some new things I want to try with your damn-near virgin ass.”

 

Nora scoffed hard and gave ‘been there, done that’ sigh and flopped her arms over her head, picking at the mattress. “Dee kinda beat you to orgasm by mouth.” More teeth into the upper parts of her thigh as those pitted fingers dug into the still tight muscle of her calf.

 

“Fuck, you didn’t even have that before you got frozen?! What about Boy Scout?” He gave one last kiss to her knee before kissing the top of her other foot, keeping up his massage as he travels up her delicious legs.

 

“I am not giving you a play by play, Hancock. Little harder on the left one, please?” She sighed before biting back a moan as John dug in deeper into the muscle. She couldn’t stop the release of breath as his other hand walked its way back up to her chest, flicking her still pebbled nipples like they were toys.

 

“Alright, but I’m sure I can still show ya some new stuff. Tell me one more thing though; you ever play with those pre-war vibration toys?” The ghoul now started his kisses at her belly button, nipping just under her breasts again before continuing up to kiss her voice box.

 

“Gooood,” once again calling for the Lord on high to save her as her hands flew towards her crimson face, and once a-fucking-gain Hancock stopped her.

 

“Well, thank you, but I’ll keep Hancock as my last name.” He kissed her sweetly on the lips, before snapping down to bite the bottom one. “Talk.”

 

“Yes, for God’s sake. Of course. Used it in the shower most of the time.” She winked and wrapped a leg around the ghoul’s waist. “All nice and slippery.”

 

“Oh, I’ll get you sweating, Nora Jean, but so you know: No mercy today,” Nora cocked a question look up at him. “We could have been doing this ages ago if you had just talked to me.” A tender kiss followed by the ghoul’s best attempt at a nose to nose snuggle. “You are _not_ walking anytime soon.”

 

Nora smirked up at the man, huffing in disbelief and faked a yawn. “Promise in one hand and spit in the other, which one fills up-EEEEEESHIT!!” Nora cried out as Hancock twisted her legs and hips up. He spread her wide, pushing her knees toward her shoulders and curling one arm around her suspended waist while the other swept two fingers along her wet outer lips. Breathless at his move, she damn near choked as that hand went around her left leg, palm over her pubes and fingers spread her open. Then his tongue dragged sloooow across her clit.

 

Holy SHIT! Nora gasped until it hurt and tried to kick him off. The appendage felt boiling hot on her sensitive nub, and the different levels scratched just on the right side of pain. Her back tried to cramp up as she twisted to try to get her legs closed. The brute strength of a ghoul is rather amazing as said ghoul had her opened up and pinned down with just his hands against her shakes. “FUCK!” The answering cackle was sent straight into the swollen button.

 

John was true to his word; completely merciless. Where Preston had been through to get her wet, Dee had teased and played, Hancock did all in his power to build her up hard and fast. The _noises_ he made as he opened his mouth wide, laving his full tongue from the bottom of her entrance up once again to her clit. He growled as his scarred lips tugged and tortured her to obscene moans and pleas. And of course he talked…

 

“Taste like heaven, Princess.”

 

“So damn wet, I bet I could just sliiiide right in.” He pushed a finger inside of her as he spoke, hooking it up, just right, and tapping at her inflated inner walls.

 

“I can feel you clinching, Nora Jean. Wanna come for me? Squeeze this pretty pussy of yours so tight it snaps my finger off?” Fuck, he was literally speaking _into_ her folds. Nora throat closed as she came, making a strained whine as her toes curled and body shook.

 

She was ready for a short recover time before he pushed inside of her. _He_ had other plans, as a second finger pushed inside of her as she convulsed, his tongue lapping like he was dying of thirst. “Hancock!” Nora tried to jerk away from the ghoul’s torment. Fuck, sensitive damnit!

 

He laughed, that low ‘bastard’ laugh that got her wet every fucking time, as he did another long, lewd lick up, curling his tongue’s tip to show off. “No. Mercy,” was all he said as he growled before sucking on her pleasure button hard, while flexing his fingers to stretch her.

 

Fuck, too much, Nora keened high and shoved her palm against the ghoul’s forehead, trying to get him off. Fuck, she was still coming and he was, “FUCKINGSHIT HMMM!” She bit her lip to try to give herself some focus. His fingers dug into her G-spot and a twist of his wrist had her mouth open, gasping, again. She tried to kick his grip off of her hip; he growled a heavenly vibration into her fired up nerves, making her arch again. Everything she did to control herself or get him off, he countered and drove her higher. “Too soon!”

 

“The fuck it is! Give it to me!” snapped John as his fingers started thrusting, twisting and hooking even faster, demanding her body give in. It did, leaving her gasping and whining while her hips ground her womanhood in John’s face. Not that the ghoul had any complaints as he drug his fingers out of her slowly, only to stretch his whole tongue inside of her.

 

“John, please!” Nora pleaded, her muscles becoming sore from the tension and release. The sheer depravity that was sounding between his lips was making her dizzy, let alone the actual acts. Hancock ignored the plea and suck every little drop he could out of her, thwarting every attempt the woman underneath him gave to pushing him away. He adjusted her now, making sure to keep her right leg solidly pinned between his cheek and shoulder as he pushed in three fingers, watching for pain. She was chewing her lip now, eyebrows pulled down, eyes closed as she tried to focus. Not happening. “Heard of a squirtin’ orgasm, Princess?” he asked as pushed his three fingertips up into her walls hard and worked her out of her mind. Least if the crying out and body strains were any clue.

 

“CAN’T! NEVER-GOOOD” the prolonged call for Lord Almighty just made him work harder. Never heard of it? Never had two in a row? Didn’t matter, he was getting one more out of her, spraying wet or not. Wrangling her thrashing body was getting harder; he knew she was too sensitive to take much more without some rest. He’d let her rest before taking her. If she still let him after his torture, he thought as he sucked, licked and very gently scraped his teeth against that blood-filled joy button.

 

Her voice was climbing in pitch; hell, he half expected Cods and mutt to come running from town as she swore and cried out. He rode her out though, watching that beautiful red tint spread from her neck, collar bone, and chest; hell it was creeping toward her belly. He groaned into the wet flesh under his lips as a fresh and heavy wave of wetness fell on his fingers, just as a sweeter juice erupted from her, hitting his tongue. She screamed, full on screamed as she damn near did a sit up from the way her muscles tightened. The ghoul hummed a low, comforting sound as he drank down the sweeter nectar, slowing his fingers as her inner walls stuttered from her orgasm. He let her body drop slowly back down, though he stayed happily between her legs. Slow licks to clean and relax the shivering Wasterland warrior. He drew out his fingers again while his dry hand rubbed up and down the length of her left leg, soothing.

 

One last lick and a soft kiss into her thick nest of curls before the mayor climbed his way up her body, kissing the trail to her neck. She whined his name so nicely as he sucked on that red spot. “First for that, Nora Jean?” he rumbled in her ear, grinning at the flinch and roll of her hips under him.

 

“Hancock,” fuck, breathy sounded really good on her as her half-closed eyes looked at him.

 

“Tired, Princess? Play again tomorrow?” Hell, he’d beat off tonight and drown in her juice again tomorrow and every day after if she let him.

 

Her arms, still shaking, wrapped around his neck, tugging him up. She moaned low and happily as he thrust his tongue into her mouth, tasting every piece of her as she tasted herself. He groaned low himself as she threw her leg over his hips. “Please John.” She nipped at his chin, rolling her hips again.

 

Hancock kissed her before leaning away and working off the jeans. Nora tried to sit up, but gave up quickly with just how tired she was. Ghoulish bastard. Once unbutton and unzip, Nora hissed at the sight of a decently long, but _thick_ pitted cock. That was going to stretch. Hancock smirked, not even looking at her as he stood up to finish off the pants. “Won’t hurt you, Princess. Already wore you out, this is just the cherry.” His knees hit the mattress again as he leaned in to kiss her softly. He then scooped her up and maneuvered them over to the couch. He sat with his back to the frame, legs bent up as he set his Princess on his lap, groaning as those still wet lips sat on his straining cock.

 

“Lean into me, Nora. I’ll work us good.” Nora shivered at the low rasp before wrapping her arms around his neck. He planted gentle, quick kisses all along her neck and shoulder as he took himself in hand between them. A little dip of her hips and a push from his hand, and Nora moaned long as he slowly slides inside her. The texture of his cock, the same as his fingers, made her groan long and loud as she slides down him.  Her inner walls were a bit raw and sore, but she was happy as their hips connected completely. Hancock’s arms hugged her to him as he spaced his legs a bit wider to start a gentle roll inside of her, whispering her name in her shoulder.

 

That was how they fucked/made love; after the hard, fast punishment of his tongue, Nora loved this slow build. She leaned into the crook of his neck, sighing softly between gentle moans. His right arm crossed from her waist up to her shoulder while his left hand ran up the back of her thigh, cupping her ass regularly. Best were the sweet words that were now flowing from his previously filthy mouth.

 

“Lookin’ so beautiful, Princess.”

 

“Not gonna get my fill of you after this.” His hand squeezed her ass as a long groan escaped into her shoulder, feeling him completely still for a moment before he rolled them together.

 

“Do you have one more in ya, Nora? Want you to look back on this and want more.” His head was tucked under her chin now, her gasping softly as a rough thumb gently circled her clit.

 

“John,” Nora whined his name, panting as the ghoul rocked just a touch harder. Hand gripping her ass in place while that thumb twirled in tighter circles.

 

“Just one more, Nora Jean.” He kissed her, sucking down her whines and whimpers, until she hissed and stilled. He dropped his thumb, keeping his hips rolling in large circles as those wonderful muscles pulled and slacked against his aching cock. She collapsed deeper into him as she was edging off, allowing him to wiggle just right to pull out. He kept her sitting on him, though, and with a few more rolls, he groaned harsh himself as he spent himself in the jungle of her thighs and up to her stomach. He pulsed, sending a few more dollops against her before he sighed, kissing her flesh gently again.  “Nora?”

 

“So good, John.” She nuzzled into his neck and he was sure she was already drifting towards sleep. He grinned as he moved them back to the bed. She curled into his chest happily as he pulled a previously folded blanket off the couch. Fanning it around the two of them, John counted his blessings about being the one to get to cuddle with the warrior woman throughout the night.

 

 

 

 


	9. Anniversary Extra (Hancock and Mac's trip to the alley during chapter 7)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a part of Chapter 7 originally, but I didn't want it published before Hancock's chapter. And since today (my time) is the one year anniversary of the fic, thought it'd be a good time to do it.
> 
>  
> 
> Fair Warning: This is a guy on guy chapter. I headcannon Hancock and Mac being easy going buds about sex with each other. Though Mac is going to be jealous of Hancock in the near future. Not much, but damn, how is the young buck losing out to everyone? Poor thinggggg.

 

Hancock had picked a decently dark alleyway, and MacCready had to grin at the bit of irony that came to mind. Boss would die laughing if she knew. John noticed.

 

“Cap for your thoughts, kid?” questioned the ghoul as his arm reached over and circled around Joe’s neck. He stepped the two of them back, MacCready’s back connecting with the wall and Hancock’s face snuggling into to the side of his neck and scarf. Then he yanked the material off with no ceremony, kissing under MacCready’s ear and down his jugular vein to the edge of his shirt. MacCready jerked and worried his lip as Hancock worked. Ghouls always ran hotter than normal people, so any contact was like fire on his skin. Add into that John was someone who deserved his reputation. He studied his partners’ weaknesses and remembered. MacCready gritted his teeth and sucked air through them as Hancock dug his finger pads as hard as he could down MacCready’s neck and down to between his shoulder blades under his coat and shirt. “No marks, Hancock,” MacCready hissed out, feeling the other man smirk into his neck, but used lighter pressure on the second pass. “No nails, Joe,” and MacCready glared at the laughing black eyes over the name, before those dry, ruined lips sealed over his own moist pink ones. Quick, calming rather than meant to excite, but that’s what John’s hands were for.

 

John’s other hand ran briefly over the kid’s sides, feeling the muscles bunch and twitch under the layers, before his fingers curled around the belt buckle. He was too practiced to need both hands, and MacCready’s belt was quickly undone enough that the button holding them close could also be freed. The overcoat was pulled open more and the shirt was yanked out of his pants. Lastly went the zipper and MacCready twisted and shivered as cooler air met his hard cock. “Got you, kid. Easy,” Hancock whispered as the pants were pulled down to mid-thigh. His ruined skin, pitted in places and raised up on the edges, was flaming hot compared to the line of skin on MacCready’s thigh that he pet. Hancock watched his fingers trace along the merc’s pale skin, grinning as the goosebumps started to form. He moved them up and under the shirt that covered Joe’s torso. His pitted digits moved over the lower plane of the shivering stomach, through the fine hair that extended from the merc’s navel to groin. His other hand dug into the kid’s hair and scalp and pulled his head back, a bit rough seeing as how the man groaned and bucked his hips into the air. Hancock then, exaggerating just a bit, lewdly and noisily licked a _slow_ line up his neck, over his chin before biting said chin roughly. The thick, neatly trimmed goatee prickled against his ruined lips and tongue, giving the ghoul an almost tickle sensation. He kissed the spot and chuckled low as the kid tried to hold off his shivers and moans, failing on both ends.

 

“You’re leaking, MacCready. Got real worked up havin’ her tits pushed up against you, huh?” Hancock whispered/purred into the kid’s ear, smirking as he squeezed his eyes tight, gritted and bared his teeth as his head moved back further. Like the merc was trying to fight against Hancock’s observations. The ghoul’s teeth latched on to the reddened ear and bit down for just a small hiss of pain as his fingers slide down Joe’s stomach into that light brown bush. His index finger traced a slow line from the base of the hard cock up, over the foreskin to the tip of the head. Long yet thin, and felt fucking great up the ass, as the Mayor got to experience. Oh, and that thought lead to a great place in Hancock’s mind. His own eyes closed at the pretty mental picture as his thumb smoothed back the foreskin to reveal a leaking, purple crown.

 

“Fuck, kid. You’ve got a great dick for the ass. What if she lets us-” and the two men groan together at the idea of the two of them slipping into her. Hancock’s hand wrapped tight around MacCready’s pulsing cock and got to work. He was all business; getting the kid off as hard and as fast as he could. Not that the moaning and half-whimpering kid had any complaints.

 

“Do-nghhh- do you think she’ssscrap, right there, John,” MacCready’s mind curled around the image. Had the boss taken it in the ass? Heck, she’d have sex _seven_ times pre-war? He’d had that much in the first two days of his marriage. She’d have to be worked open _slowly_ and she’d squirm and twist those hips and… “Fffffff-,” MacCready’s hands snapped up the Hancock’s shoulders, holding on to the other man for dear life.

 

“Really fuckin’ doubt it,” Hancock groaned into the sniper’s neck, adding twisting to his wrist around the head now. “Start talking kid; what do you think about when you jerk off to her?" Hancock slowed his hand, though he kept up the twist, grinning at the face the merc pulled and the hard shove at his shoulders.

 

“Why do you like knowing all the dirty stuff that goes through your partners’ headsssssshhhhii-oot,” MacCready bared his teeth again and latched one of his hands to John’s wrist. On the down stroke, John pushed one of his fingers along the skin inbetween his balls and hooked up behind his whole sack on the way back.

 

“Cause we both know it takes me too fuckin’ long to get up,” Hancock leaned his own groin into MacCready’s thigh and the merc felt the lack of erection. “And unless we suddenly get about an hour to play, I ain’t gettin’ any. Give me some spank bank material kid. Fair payment.” He slowed his stroke down even more, even squeezing roughly around the base. That got him another shove, but John just latched his teeth back on to the skinny man’s ear and pulled.

 

“Worst part about being a ghoul,” MacCready said, mentally grinning at the snarl the sounded in his ear. He hissed loudly as John squeezed a bit harder. “Easy!” snapped the merc, and now he could feel the ghoul grin back. “Alright, alright,” MacCready took a deeper breath and released. Hancock started fisting him again, hard but slow. He was listening.

 

“One of my favorites… has been with her on top,” Hancock nodded against his neck and started kissing down it. “She’s rolling her hips rather than bouncing,” MacCready shut his own eyes and let himself fall into the pictured scene he loved so much. “I’ve got my hands on her thighs,” a groan from Hancock rolled into his neck, “but she’s doing all the work. Sometimes, she rolls just right and she can’t stay up. She falls and we’re chest to chest. Her hair is around our faces, nrgggh,” MacCready leaned forward and snapped his teeth into the ghoul’s coat covered neck. His other arm threw itself over the other man’s shoulders and squeezed while the one on John’s wrist tightened, trying to get him to speed up.

 

“Her hair’s so fuckin’ soft; it’d tickle if it got in your face,” Hancock commented in an extra husky timbre.

 

“But it’s so beautiful. John, move!” MacCready growled at the other man, pumping his hips out to get more friction.

 

“One more, kid. Gimme a good one for later. Tell me your dirtiest,” Hancock pushed his finger back between his balls on the down stroke. MacCready tried throwing his leg around the ghoul’s waist, but got caught in his pants.

 

“I got something better,” MacCready grinned as Hancock’s face turned curious and they were nose to ‘nose’ now. “I stayed behind in her room this morning. Called her out on Garvey myself,” Hancock’s eyes gleamed and a wicked smirk started growing. “She told me then the same thing she said on the hill,” the pitch-black eyes grew wide. “So I kissed her.”

 

Hancock let rip a vicious snarl and shoved the merc hard, deeper into the wall, though he kept his molted hand on the pulsing cock. “Are you fuckin’ serious? You actually got the balls to move on her?” Despite the snarl and the shove, Hancock looked happy as hell. A bit jealous, definitely, but he was beaming like a proud big brother. “Shit, kid. Didn’t know you had it in you. Thought she’d have to pull a Garvey on you and just pin you to the bed. Fuckin’ shit,” Hancock yanked the merc’s face forward and kissed him hard. Hard enough MacCready felt his bottom lip stretch to almost the point of splitting before he was released. “Now just don’t blow it. You were talking to her earlier; did you apologized? Shit, I still need to… alright fuck it. You’re gettin’ a treat today kid,” and Hancock pulled his hand away, much to MacCready’s groaning displeasure, and started working his pants lower.

 

In the time it took John to drop to his knees, MacCready’s pants were shoved down to just under his said joints. The time it took John to grab tight handfuls of what little ass there was to the kid, his mouth was half way down his cock. And if you thought the outside of a ghoul was hot…

 

“FUCK!” MacCready’s body curled over Hancock’s, his hands snapping over the bald scarred head. He just caught himself from fucking John’s throat, but it was close. Not all ghouls had it, but Hancock had a scarred and pitted tongue. Which meant different points of contact felt different at the same time. Which felt fucking fantastic.

 

5\. It took five bobs of Hancock’s head to get MacCready to cum. His mouth was merciless, and fuck, he groaned around MacCready like he was the one getting off. MacCready felt like Hancock was rubbing his cock raw, and the ghoul even took him all the way to the base. That was how he came; balls deep in Hancock’s throat with the ghoul growling/groaning around him. His jaw hurt from gritting his teeth as his balls shot wave after wave of cum. Hancock made it worse; as he swallowed the load, his throat constricted around the head. After the last spurt, MacCready body unclenched enough for him to breathe, more like gasp, again, but he had to rely on Hancock’s strength to stay up. The mayor gave one more swallow, making MacCready flinch at the sensitivity, before pulling off and standing up, pushing MacCready’s weight into the wall. 

 

“Good job, MacCready,” the ghoul cooed in his way, kissing the merc’s neck once more before starting to fix up the scarf. “You’ve had a major case of blue balls, huh?” He smirked at the shivering panting sniper, who lazily opened one eye and smirked back at him. Hancock smiled, this time in comradery, as he started to work the rest of the kid’s clothes back into place. With shaking limbs, Joe was the very definition of ‘weak-kneed’ right now.

 

“How about you, Mayor? Haven’t seen you taking any ‘tours’ in months.” MacCready back sassed as his breathing got under control. He reached down to help the ghoul redress him, finishing up the belt, before letting out a long happy breath. John leaned in and bit at his chin/goatee and the two enjoyed the sexual high.

 

“Aside from side steps with you, nah. Been too damn tired from savin’ the ‘Wealth with Princess. She does run us all over the place,” Hancock stepped back and looked him over, adjusting the coat once more to make the merc presentable. He then fished out a cigarette and flicked his-wait, he still had Princess’- lighter open. The tip caught fire as he offered the pack to MacCready, who declined for now.

 

“Now that’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one,” MacCready grinned a small shy, self-deprecating grin. “We’ve just got it bad for the Holy Terror. The woman who can charm her way through everyone, and yet, blow the brains out of just as many while dancing.”

 

The two men shared tight smiles and depressing thoughts. “Least you’ve got a chance now, kid. I ain’t got one if I was the last man in the world. Keep me posted though; I’ll do what I can,” Hancock offered as he resigned himself to the fact that the fantasies of him and Nora were just that. “Now what were you grinning at earlier?” He watched the kid blink, before the memory obviously came back and a shit eating grin pulled at the kid’s lips.

 

“Just remembering something in Goodneighbor. Do you remember where you were the morning after you gave Boss that gallery job?” MacCready arched a brow at the ghoul, who tried to follow that train of thought.

 

So that Pickman gallery job; he’d been getting reports of trouble around there for weeks. Side comments from caravans, and one of his own going missing. He offered it to Princess as a way of getting caps in her hands and because she had just gotten MacCready. The kid was a hell of a gun at your back and Hancock wasn’t going to send her off alone. Course, he only had felt a little of that fire she had at that time. Hadn’t known what a raging inferno she was yet. How dangerous she was.

 

So he, Joe and Princess were sharing drinks at the Third Rail. Charlie had just paid her off for the warehouse job. She gave MacCready his cut, and she was shooting John side eye the whole time. He remembered really focusing on not smiling; she knew who really ordered the job and she’d only been in town a week. He offered them the gallery job, watched as his post-coitus joke had got her huffy in defense of her old-world manners. Course he had also noticed the quick glint of humor in those brown eyes. He took his drink and mingled after that.

 

So where was he the next morning? The ghoul scratched his thumb over his left brow bone, trying to remember. He’d gotten woken up early by Fahr. Someone who had skipped out on her tab at the Hotel and Rail had tried sleeking back into town. The woman was being handled by the watch when he arrived and the two had been left alone. He had offered her to repay him directly, in one way or another, or he’d take it out on her hide. She was a wisp of a wanna-be Raider and con. Dirty blonde hair, a bit better looking than the average wasteland woman. She agreed and had knelt…

 

Hancock broke into roarish laughter again as the dots connected in an instant. His back hit the opposite wall of the alley and he bent over at the waist. Fuck, he even dropped his cigarette. MacCready joined him, turning around and laughing into the wall. One of the bad things about being a ghoul was the time it took to get up. Hancock, unfortunately, took a bit longer than even other ghouls. Not that he minded too much; watching his partners dance in pleasure was _a lot_ of fun. He’d use the time it took to tease and torment his lovers into whimpering, pleading messes. One of the reasons it was so easy for him to get laid, besides the obvious charm. It, did however, make blow jobs a ‘painful’ experience for others. Which is why he used that tactic to even out payments.

 

That’s where he had been; in the alley that led to Bobbi’s house. Behind KLEO’s shop in the early morning hours, getting a blowjob. Sex in an alley wasn’t exactly uncommon for him, but he usually took it further in town, behind the Memory Den.

 

“So, let me guess: Princess got you two up early, and you both caught me with my pants down, huh?”

 

“Buddy, she didn’t _talk_ for like three blocks. I had to hold her arm and lead her for a good 10 minutes before she snapped out of it. She said two things: ‘Did I just see what I thought I saw?’ Oh man her face was _tato_ red and her voice was a whisper. After I said yes, she went quiet for another two blocks before saying ‘He could get assassinated like that.’ She then grabbed _my arm_ and towed us to the gallery.”

 

“Fuck, that’s why she didn’t look me in the eye until after Bobbi,” Hancock tried to settle and checked down to see if his cigarette was salvageable but growled when it wasn’t. “Alright, kid, head back. Woo the fair Princess for me, a’right?” Hancock gave the merc a two finger salute before he tap out a new stick out of his pack. The sniper nodded and grinned before heading back. Hancock stood alone, fresh tobacco on his lips, and thought over the different fantasies he had with his pretty girl. His heart did a hard thump, in pain and pleasure, and he rubbed at it as he thought.


	10. Sooooon-er than even I expected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter is complete... Damn go me! However, I still need to do a few error checks. I will likely post it this Saturday.

Please check back on the 14/15 for the next real chapter. Mac and Nora, out to get Duncan. Drama, cuteness and mayyyyyybe some spicy filth. BhAHAHAHA


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